Inspirational – Blanchard LeaderChat

Praise Where Praise is Due

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 08:10:53 +0000

Who doesn’t like positive feedback?
It’s great to feel you have done a job well, beat a target or helped others. Being recognised boosts our confidence, self esteem and drives us to perform well.
According to a study in Forbes complimenting workers can have a similar impact and incentive as cash rewards. They found ‘scientific proof that a person performs better when they receive a social reward after completing an exercise’. The striatum area of the brain is activated when this happens, the same area of the brain activated when you are given a monetary reward.
So, when was the last time you gave positive feedback or praised a colleague’s performance?
The link to performance seems obvious, yet excuses and busy schedules get in the way of this kind of feedback being given regularly or becoming a workplace norm. There is a stigma associated with praising colleagues; maybe it will be seen as a weakness and how often should we really be giving positive feedback?
According to Business Zone giving positive feedback improves performance, quality of work, accountability, strengthens relationships and ‘prevents destructive information gaps’. Evidence enough of the power of praise.
How much of an effort would it be to commit to praising one team member a week and making sure that feedback is timely, constructive and genuinely heartfelt? Does sticking our neck out and giving someone the feedback they deserve really dent our ego and make us weaker? Or does it show that we are strong individuals, comfortable with recognising others and respectful and grateful for the hard work others put into their jobs every day?
These are all rhetorical questions as I think we all know the answer. Let’s give a colleague the gift of praise and make their day – I can assure you it will be appreciated!

I couldn’t find a great quote on feedback; let me know if you find any. I will leave you with my thoughts on giving praise:
Being able to give praise purely, simply and honestly to others is the greatest gift you can give. Be the person who steps forward and has the strength to give this gift where it is deserved. You will inspire and bring joy and appreciation to those who are giving their best.

Want to Lead More Effectively? Have Fun

Hart Lee — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 00:15:57 +0000

Do you have fun at work? Do you try to promote a laughter-filled workplace?
These are questions I ask myself on a daily basis. And honestly, who doesn’t to work in a positive, fun, happy work environment? The results are clear: Less stress, more engagement, higher commitment. Plus, when you create a culture of fun, you’re promoting well-being for not just yourself but for everyone around you as well.
Though, it’s true that not everyone wants to stretch outside their comfort zone to accomplish this. I mean, this is the workplace we’re talking about after all. But as a leader, by doing this, you tend to display a more genuine side of yourself, a more authentic persona that direct reports appreciate. When was the last time you pulled an office prank, or sent a funny email? When was the last time you told a funny story, or did something silly to make someone laugh? Of course, every work culture is different, so you may have to find your own version of fun that works. But remember, you are part of the workplace. And as a result, you help shape and create the workplace experience.
Perhaps you can simply start by responding to spam email. You never know what funny story you’ll get out of it:

You Should Bloom Where You are Planted

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 10:00:00 +0000

One of the greatest attributes of successful people and leaders is to understand their passions and strengths. Sometimes we get distracted or side-tracked by other things that are perceived as adding value but in reality they are time wasters and productivity drainers. Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves of what our strengths are and focus on those. Jake Weidmann reminds us all about pursuing our strengths and crafting our passions.

Remember Your Worth

Jemma Garraghan — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 14:00:08 +0000

I first heard this story a few years ago – my Granddad sent me it in an e-mail. He sends me a lot of things, as it’s his way of letting me know that I’m thought about, but for some reason, this story stuck in my mind.
I can’t be sure who this should be credited to – I’ve seen this shared in a few places, but if anyone knows the author I’ll be more than happy to add credits.
I don’t know whether it’s a true story, or if it started out as a made-up tale, but either way, the author inspired me, with this thought-provoking, and touching piece:

————————

One day, a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list.
Before long, the entire class was smiling. “Really?” she heard whispered. “I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!” and, “I didn’t know others liked me so much,” were most of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. The teacher never found out if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn’t matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another.
That group of students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. “Were you Mark’s math teacher?” he asked. She nodded: “Yes.” Then he said: “Mark talked about you a lot.”
After the funeral, most of Mark’s former classmates went together to lunch. Mark’s mother and father were also there, wanting to speak with his teacher. “We want to show you something,” his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.”
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.
The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him.
“Thank you so much for doing that,” Mark’s mother said. “As you can see, Mark treasured it.”
All of Mark’s former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, “I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.”
Chuck’s wife said, “Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.”
“I have mine too,” Marilyn said. “It’s in my diary”
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. “I carry this with me at all times,” Vicki said. Without batting an eyelash, she continued, “I think we all saved our lists.”
Tears rolled down the eyes of the humble teacher. We encounter so many people in our lives, and it’s a precious joy to see the good in all those journeys.

————————

I shared this story, and my thoughts, with my team in the office – and we had a go at the activity in the story; and what we found in doing so was that people valued the things about us that we often overlook in ourselves. It reminded us all to take the time to appreciate our cooperation, and remember our own worth at the same time.
This story always reminds me that it’s important to value the small things that you like about individuals – we don’t always get along; tensions appear, and friendships can be frayed – but it’s important not to let what’s happening in your life to overshadow, or even color, the way you view other people around you. It reminds me that, even where people don’t get along, you can find something good in someone’s personality; and it also reminds me that sometimes, we’re so busy focusing on doing our jobs, trying to please other people, that we forget to take a step back and see our own value.

Top 5 Things People Don't Know About Virtual Workers

Hart Lee — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 20:40:52 +0000

British vs. American Culture!

Hart Lee — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 23:36:05 +0000

5 Things People Do To Look Really, Really Busy

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 08:22:21 +0000

Top 5 Office Pet Peeves (Leadership Quote)

Hart Lee — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 15:26:53 +0000

The 3 Habits of Highly Effective Millennials

Hart Lee — Fri, 01 May 2015 19:52:27 +0000

We’re doing something a little different this week.
Instead of a written post, Gus Jaramillo and I collaborated on a video post as part of the Leadership Quote vlog series. Subscribe for future videos!

Infectious Thought Germs Will Anger You

Hart Lee — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 03:33:33 +0000

Looking past the viral-oriented nature of this video, the main concept presented is critical for leadership. Thoughts, when attached to emotions other than sadness, generally have higher “infection” rates.

Thus, it is important to generate more emotion (hopefully positive and not anger-inducing) around messages that you want your direct reports to remember or share. It seems idea is lost at times in the data-driven world of today, where it’s more important to get across the numbers and metrics than it is to tell a story.
So communicate with feeling and generate positive emotions in your direct reports. Make the topic relevant to them. They will be more receptive to your messages and will remember them better. Let’s infect the world with the good germs to promote healthy thoughts.

Just don’t anger them… or you may end up on the wrong side of a thought germ!

Why You Should Be a Power Poser

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:41:42 +0000

Social psychologists study the ways in which we influence others through our body language, but did you know that body language also influences our own behavior? It is part of our human nature to draw conclusions based on information we collect from social cues and context. I’m very keen on how people present themselves so I notice how they move, walk, speak, make eye contact, and hold their physical frame. You can infer a lot about someone by their posture, facial expressions, and other non-verbal communication. How you show up in your body provides clues about your mental and emotional state, and it subtly suggests elements of your character. People often comment on my “perfect” posture and it’s a running joke among my close friends. I have always believed that the way you carry yourself on the outside reflects what is happening within you, but which of these variables predicts the other?

Amy Cuddy, Harvard Business School Professor, studies the connections between nonverbal behaviors, emotions, and social judgments, and how these relationships impact business and society. In her 2012 TED talk, she explains how the use of “power poses” can literally change the way a person feels, reacts, and ultimately performs. If you want to feel something, embody it! If you want your brain to react like everything is in order, stand tall and walk with composure. The biofeedback loops which connect brain to body transmit signals back and forth about the state of the union, so if the body is being held in a submissive way, then that is how the brain will respond. If you want to display confidence, even when you’re not convinced of it, hold a confident stance and your body will tell your brain to feel that way.

With over 23 million views, this wildly popular video has likely caught your eye and it is definitely worth 20 minutes of your time. Yes, I’m a bit of a posture freak, and I hope that after watching this video, you’ll become one too. Why?…Because it can make you powerful. I do not always feel confident and collected but I move with purpose and carry myself with poise because I have learned that I can cultivate what I need and so can you. Sometimes you just have to “fake it ‘til you make it.” Amy Cuddy talks about the paralyzing trap of the imposter syndrome, but her research shows that true power comes from realizing you can create an alternate reality simply by taking a stance. Give it a try! Strike a pose for power.
About the Author: Sarah is a Professional Services Intern at The Ken Blanchard Companies. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Consulting Psychology, and her research is based on mindfulness. Contact: sarah.maxwell@kenblanchard.com.

Exercise: It May Help Your Memory

Hart Lee — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 02:52:21 +0000

We’ve barely started the new year and already resolutions are being thrown to the wayside. From eating healthier to saving more money, there’s one resolution is quite popular: exercising more.
I’m currently struggling against the hump that we all face after heading to the gym a few times. My motivation is at an all-time low. If you’re like me, you may be more willing to exercise after hearing that exercise can potentially improve your memory:
Credit: BrainCraft
What have you forgotten lately, both at home and at work? Perhaps an anniversary or something more physical like your keys? Or at something you had to do that wasn’t on your calendar?
Well, exercise may be the answer. So motivate yourself to push through the hump, because once you get into the groove, you’ll be improving not just your body but your mind as well.

Image Credit: 1

Wandering The Navajo Pollen Path

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 22:52:21 +0000

Annual events such as birthdays, holidays, or the New Year inspire us to re-orient ourselves as we ask some important questions: Where am I and how did I get here? What goals did I set what have I achieved or missed? Where am I headed and how will I get there? What have I learned and who has helped me? What I am grateful for and what would I like to change? Where did I struggle and where did I rise?
Three years ago, when I was emerging from great struggle and conflict into self-realization and growth, a dear friend introduced me to the Navajo Pollen Path, pictured below.
Accompanied by a ceremonial chant:
Oh beauty before me,
beauty behind me,
beauty to the right of me,
beauty to the left of me,
beauty above me,
beauty below me,
I am on the Pollen Path.
In the house of life I wander,
On the pollen path.
The Pollen Path symbolizes an individual’s journey through life and it is rich in myth and meaning. Originally created as a sand painting, it was used in ritualistic healing ceremonies during which community members gathered to support an individual on their spiritual exploit. Following their own footprints at the bottom of the image, the initiate passes by two guardians who usher the individual into the spiritual world. As the initiate continues up the cornstalk, which symbolizes sustenance, there are several points along way where pollen is sprinkled to germinate his growth. Within this sacred space, the individual experiences positive and negative forces and he encounters spiritual messengers, depicted as male versus female and representing the different energies of the sun and moon. These helpers arrive at a critical time when the individual’s path is dramatically struck by a bolt of lightning, electrifying his opportunity to either seek and accept help or be stalled on his journey. If he is brave enough to continue forward in the after-shock, the individual meets a dove at the top of the cornstalk, which symbolizes peace at the end of his path. He has reached spiritual enlightenment and is now free to follow his footsteps back to the beginning where he will be ushered once again into a new pollen path.
It is circuitous to remind us that our journey has many starting points, stalling points, opportunities for growth, and people in our surroundings who are there to help us in ways we often are not aware of until we emerge from the path stronger and ready to start again. The Pollen Path can be used as a reminder that struggle is a natural part of life and a necessary condition for progress. It can serve as a reminder to never take for granted the beautiful hearts and souls who have helped you along your journey, and it can provide a sense of purpose knowing that you might be instrumental to someone else’s growth.
Like many of you, I have reflected on my trials and triumphs from the past year and I welcome a fresh start at the dawn of the New Year. May you find what you seek in 2015! In the house of life you wander, on the Pollen Path. It’s a continuous journey—Make it a beautiful year!
Photo Credit: Pollen Path
About the Author: Sarah is a Professional Services Intern at The Ken Blanchard Companies. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Consulting Psychology, and her research is based on mindfulness. Contact: sarah.maxwell@kenblanchard.com.

Streaming: The Future of Virtual Learning?

Hart Lee — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 06:33:30 +0000

There is a revolution happening in the world of video games. It is called Twitch. It’s a website where gamers can directly stream footage of their game daily and provide voice commentary. Most also share their webcams in the corner of the screen and respond to chat either directly in the chat window or via voice. They generate revenue through subscribers who pay monthly ($5 on average) for special benefits (like being entered into giveaways) and donations. And it’s gaining so much popularity that Amazon purchased it for almost a billion dollars and was considered the fourth largest source of internet traffic in the US in early 2014.

So why is this important? Well, within the realm of learning, MOOCs have gained much popularity for providing content on the go at little to no cost. But the content is not flexible and other than forums, there’s no fast way to interact with the content provider, especially if you need clarification or have a quick question. It lacks the feel of communicating directly with a live human being. And virtual training/learning is great, but could be expensive and the scheduling might be inconvenient or infrequent.

In a sense, MOOCs are like YouTube, where people upload content and others view it. So what is out there for learning that is like Twitch? Currently, virtual training/learning and live video blogging comes the closest. But imagine if there were entertaining individuals streaming, for instance, a fun learning videogame or sharing some interesting but educational videos for just a half hour every night and providing witty commentary. And also answering questions out loud on the video as you ask them in the chat window. And providing free giveaways for both subscribers and regular viewers.

There are technology platforms already in place to enable this type of streaming to occur. And there are many people who would benefit from this type of content. And for the streamers, there is revenue to be generated through subscribers. I believe that this will be the next big learning platform to take off once more people start taking advantage of this technology, particularly when more of the YouTube generation starts to enter the workforce.
What are your thoughts? Would this be something that would interest you?
Image Credit: 1 | 2 | 3

Managing Your Mind

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 21:22:59 +0000

Before you can effectively manage your career, relationships, home, hobbies, and the pursuit of your dreams, you’ll first need to master the skill of managing your mind. Yes, it is a skill. Yes, it can be learned and strengthened through the practice of meditation. Essentially meditation is mental training. Mindfulness—my preferred form of mental training—is the practice of focusing on present-moment experience. As simple as it sounds, it certainly is not easy! Mindfulness is learned experientially and getting a firm grasp on it takes time, but not as much as you might think. In this popular TED talk, Andrew Puddicombe explains it best:

The mind is the seat of consciousness, the realm of all mental and emotional processing, somatic sensation and perception, and the intricate combination of moment-to-moment experiences we call life. That’s where it all plays out, in your mind. Knowing that, you can see why a calm and well-functioning mind is the foundation for health and happiness.
How can mindfulness help? Focus. Blanchard consultants and coaches will attest that in order to sustain learning after training, focus is key. Without focus the untrained mind is like a puppy, distracted by anything that moves. Training a puppy takes energy and discipline. The process can be frustrating and it won’t work without consistency and patience. Mental training is similar. In its natural state the mind is like a puppy, running in circles and sometimes colliding with walls because it can’t stop. Frantic mental activity perpetuates stress, anxiety, pain, and struggle. When we lack focus, we lack control over our experience. We cannot always change the events that occur but we can change how we experience them. Mindfulness is a way of redirecting attention and thus acting with greater intention and less struggle. It starts with noticing what you are experiencing in the present moment and simply observing without judging it—Sort of just sitting with it rather than reacting to it. Mindfulness is the space between stimulus and response.

A common misconception about mindfulness, as Puddicombe explains, is that “people assume that meditation is all about stopping thoughts, getting rid of emotions, somehow controlling the mind. But actually it’s…about stepping back, seeing the thought clearly, witnessing it coming and going.” Did you know that we spend nearly half of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we’re doing? Astounding! Cognitive neuroscientists have shown that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind, and an unhappy mind is an unproductive one. Instead we can choose, in any moment, to sit with reality by mindfully bringing our attention back to here and now.

Looking for an introduction to the practice of mindfulness and how it can improve your wellbeing? Here are some resources to get you started:

Mindfulness Meditation: 20 Reasons Why It’s Good For Your Mental and Physical Health
UCSD Center for Mindfulness: Recommended Reading
Meditation on the go: Best Smartphone Apps
News and research on mindfulness practice: www.mindful.org

Mind full, or mindful? The choice is yours.
About the Author: Sarah is a Professional Services Intern at The Ken Blanchard Companies. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Consulting Psychology, and her research is based on mindfulness. Contact: sarah.maxwell@kenblanchard.com.

Pent Beneath Fancy Knot

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:19:37 +0000

To the one pent beneath fancy knot,

pent behind fancy knot

It is curious to look at your affair

Catching you gaze toward heaven

Each afternoon seeking fresh air

Petitioning social network for leaven

Numb cheek now fermenting

Who could rejoice with thee now?

Fatigued, slipping into some ancient chat

You lie back in whispering waves of mocha

Toes banked in lukewarm grains of sand

Swimming in ocean’s of caramel bliss

Careless of the call you just missed

Pent beneath fancy knot

Ulysses’ alarm, pale reason to depart

Returning home at sundown—eyes half shut

Visions of Marla—the happy stray mutt

Once proud royal, mourn the day left behind

Slumber to the door—the angel’s tear has descended

You slide softly and silently into your favorite spot.

Still pent beneath fancy knot

by J. Diamond Arnold
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant and Learning Media Producer at The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action a real time, real work, leaning experience that develops effective communication and collaboration skills for individuals in the workplace. He is Co Producer and Director of Stepping Up to Leadership with Scott Blanchard, at lynda.com.

The Amazing Girl Who Was Not Allowed To Say “Can’t”

Hart Lee — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 17:44:37 +0000

Please watch the following video:

Video Credit: BBDS Talent

Jennifer believed she could do anything as long as she put her mind to it. And the same is true for anyone else.

Are you facing a challenge that seems too difficult to overcome? Try thinking outside the box, or ask for a second opinion. But be persistent and remember that sometimes a few falls are necessary before you can fly.

So remove “can’t” from your vocabulary and motivate yourself to stick to it. You may surprise yourself with how much you can achieve!

Boldness Be Your Friend

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 20:08:40 +0000

The past couple years for me have been nothing short of a bold adventure dotted with opportunities, seen and unseen, to face my fears. Head on. And I don’t regret a second of it. I previously earned the nickname “safety cat” (a light-hearted play on “scared-y-cat”), but I have learned to embrace a maxim put forth by the great playwright and poet:

Fear is such a primal force. It does funny things to the brain. Fear works its way into the psyche and hijacks all reason and logic. It can be gripping and paralyzing, or rousing and electrifying. It can prevent you from thinking clearly and cause you to react without will or succumb to danger. When I was younger, I had a terrifying recurring dream when distressed that I was drowning in deep water. Dozens of times I have watched myself in this nightmare desperately struggling at the water’s surface but slowly sinking into a murky abyss. It was absolutely horrifying, every single time. Every once in a while, when I’m swimming around in fear surrounding some new challenge or perceived barrier, it sneaks in again and haunts my slumber. Naturally I’ve developed an irrational fear of being in deep water and therefore, I have never been comfortable in the ocean. Drowning is a powerful image of fear, so imagine my reaction when my brother approached me about getting scuba dive certified on vacation in the Virgin Islands! Knowing that he also harbored some anxiety around the idea of breathing from an air tank underwater, and not wanting to discourage him from challenging his own fears, I agreed to do it. I managed to say something like, “that would be fun for us to do together,” while in the background my brain was completely freaking out!

Fear is powerful, but it is not absolute. Although the brain’s course of translating fear-inducing sensory information into a behavioral response is largely an unconscious process, neuroscience has shown that we can learn new ways of reacting to fear-inducing stimuli. So how did I do it? Well, it was basically a matter of diving right in! I chose to be bold.
My brother and I signed up for the PADI Open Water Diver certification course, affiliated with a reputable dive shop in St. Thomas, and completed our e-learning modules. Then there we were on day one, all geared up with BCDs, tanks and regulators, and ready to begin the confined water dive skills portion of our training, and my brain started freaking out again. “All you have to do is breathe through your mouth and everything will be fine,” I told myself. “That’s crazy, you can’t breathe underwater, don’t do it,” my brain fought back with me. With my heart pounding, I submerged and instantly hated it. “Go back to the surface and rip your mask off so you can breathe through your nose like normal,” my brain shouted at me. “Just try to take slower, deeper, more controlled inhales and exhales,” my yoga teacher self told my brain. My chest was tight and I felt like I couldn’t get enough air no matter how hard I tried. “I’m suffocating…This is horrible…I hate this,” my brain cried out in panic. I struggled through the entire morning, dreading the impending open-water dives that afternoon.
”Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” – Helen Keller
Facing your fear is often about taking calculated risks and learning how to handle them. I chose to override my instinct to give up on diving, but my internal argument continued during the boat ride out to our first dive spot. “50 feet down is a long way…What if your regulator doesn’t work and you suffocate? What if you can’t clear your mask and you breathe in some water and choke on it? This is really scary. You don’t have to do this,” my brain tried to convince me. “Look here, amygdala, you’re not winning this time,” I answered back. Standing on the edge of the platform at the boat’s stern and heeding my brother’s advice from earlier that day, I rehearsed what was going to happen. “Walk yourself through it,” he said, so I reminded myself that I was in control and I stepped out into the ocean. We carefully made our first descent to the ocean’s floor and began our first underwater exploration!

What a mystical experience it was to be floating freely through the abyss, not struggling and fearful, but literally and figuratively buoyant. I fell in love with diving that day! More importantly, I gained an enormous sense of confidence in my ability to overcome the greatest obstacle to pursuing my dreams: fear.

“Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
How many times have you allowed fear to speak louder than reason or passion and missed an opportunity to challenge yourself and take a chance on growth in your personal or professional life? No one is immune from fear and it serves its purpose in warning us of potential threat, but it need not hold you back. You can still explore, try new things, step into the unknown, and know that you are in control even if you’re anxious. You can likely recount your own vivid tale of standing at the edge of whatever it is you were afraid to do, then taking that giant leap forward and feeling the rush of pure joy and pride afterwards. Revel in those moments and soak in the strength of resilience that you build when you do choose to face your fears. The first step is choosing to do it. The next step is going out and doing it. Share your stories below.
Boldness be your friend!
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” -Dale Carnegie
About the Author:
Sarah is a Professional Services Intern at The Ken Blanchard Companies. She is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Consulting Psychology and her research is based on mindfulness. You can reach her at sarah.maxwell@kenblanchard.com.

Flow to Success!

Hart Lee — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 08:29:59 +0000

Have you ever become so engrossed in a fun task that you lost track of time? Then you’ve experienced the concept of flow. Developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, it describes the state of mind when you reach the perfect combination of task challenge and personal skill:

Click the image below for a simple demonstration of flow (use the mouse to move and remember to return when you’re finished):

The creator of this simple game used Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow to develop the game elements. Since you can decide when to move further, you are always in control of both the level of challenge and skill, meaning you can always keep yourself in a state of flow.

Now think about your direct reports and their tasks. Are they in a state of flow? If not, is it due to the task being too difficult, or the direct reports not having high enough skills? Or perhaps the challenge isn’t increasing proportionately with their skills? And think about your own tasks. Are you in a state of flow? Why or why not? What can you do to improve your workplace and encourage more flow?

It’s clear that employees can become more engaged and productive, while constantly developing and growing, by applying this simple model to the workplace. So the next time you’re at work, try adjusting the level of challenge to match the level of skill. You might be surprised to find how much fun you can have while in flow!

Image Credit: 1

Party like its 1776!

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 08:12:26 +0000

With America’s recent bid for the World Cup title, coupled with the 4th of July weekend, I’ve been feeling pretty patriotic lately. I’ve decided that my first born’s sons name will be Tim Howard…Jaramillo. After the amazing 16 saves in the recent loss to Belgium in the World Cup by Tim Howard, I can admit that only this would be the appropriate and patriotic thing to do. And with this upcoming 4th of July weekend, I suddenly feel inspired to name my first daughter George Washington…Jaramillo. Some of these names, I’m sure, would have to be screened by my wife, but after some pillow talk and cuddling, I think they might be serious contenders.
The 4^th of July weekend is a special weekend for so many reasons. In today’s modern America, it means fireworks, BBQ’s, family, and a whole lot of people trying some Pintrest(y) type desserts. We all need to eat a flag cake at least once in our lives, don’t we? Although John Adams never predicted the American hipster, he came pretty close to what celebrations look like today. He said the 4th of July, “Ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” He also wrote in a letter to his wife Abigail that the Second Continental Congress voted in Philadelphia to declare independence from Britain on July 2^nd, not July 4^th….whoops! And most of the signers actually signed on August 2^nd and not on July 4th. Just to be safe, I’m recommending July 2nd-July 4th as national holiday(s). Who’s with me?

Whether it’s July 2nd or July 4th, I know one thing’s for sure. There have been incredible men and women who have sacrificed and fought to keep our nation independent. So let’s celebrate and cheer, not just for our nation, but for the folks who make up our great nation.
Gus is a Learning and Performance Professional at the Ken Blanchard Companies and is currently finishing his PhD in I/O Psychology. He can be reached at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

The Deadliest Sin of Leadership

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 16:04:57 +0000

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” — Albert Einstein
Divine Comedy tells the tale of one man’s journey through a three-phased adventure—Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise—in his quest for everlasting life. While stranded in the middle stage of his adventure, Dante has a chilling discovery about life in the everyday world. Stranded in Purgatory, an uncertain state where one’s soul awaits judgment between redemption and retribution, he is enlightened to the wandering ways of the world he has just experienced.
Here, he explains the ills of that world through seven distorted loves, better known as deadly “sins.” These include the excessive loves of Lust, Gluttony, and Greed, the deficient love of Sloth, and the malicious love of Wrath, Envy, and Pride. The abuse of the most pure forms of human interaction, Love, lead to a path of destruction and chaos in the state of Purgatory where Dante finds himself.
My work as a Leadership Consultant has led me through the mind-set of many organizations on a quest to find perpetual success and prosperity. While in this wandering state, I have discovered the most distorted perversion of leadership—the toleration of mediocrity.
Mediocrity is a cunning and crafty creature, the slinks and slides it’s way through a community of people intended for a greater good. It is sometimes guised in charm and humor, winning over fans with its good-natured country attitude. “Mañana! Tomorrow!” is the mantra sung at the end of the day, while rushing down the path toward the comforts of home. Sometimes, it no longer strives, begs, or craves for excellence, but is content with results that are, “good enough.”
When leaders turn a blind eye to, or minimize such attitudes within organizations, it can be a destructive habit-forming virus that slowly erodes the higher vision and values of the community. Far too often, leaders excuse a lack of desire for excellent work because of long-standing relationships with the individuals who consistently host such average behaviors. Some leaders do not know how, or may not have the will to address such subtle behaviors that beg, barrow, and steal from others’ great work, just to cover for their own lack of effort, dedication, or deferred experience to crafting their personal skills at a higher level. Some leaders are, themselves, guilty of the sin of mediocrity.
Millions of individuals throughout the workforce, from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups to non-profits, have pockets of people who, “Quit and Stay” at work. Others are lost or mislead by leaders within the organization, stuck in the rut of performing daily activities without a clear purpose or understanding of how their role contributes to the organization. Even worse, leaders allow average performers to cultivate the poisonous fruit of bitterness and gossip about other high achievers within the organization.
Organizations are only as great as they challenge or permit their contributors to be. If leaders within organizations do not take high performance and effort sincerely, they run the risk of creating a corporate Purgatory by breading a contempt and dismissal of individuals who do value excellence, effort, and efficiency. The deadliest sin of leadership is the aiding and abetting of mediocrity, at work, home, or in life.
About the Author:
Jason Diamond Arnold is a leadership consultant at The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action a real time, real work, leaning experience that develops effective communication and collaboration skills for individuals in the workplace. He is Co Producer and Director of Stepping Up to Leadership with Scott Blanchard, at lynda.com.

The “L” Word—Is It On Your Mind?

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 20:28:02 +0000

In his closing remarks at yesterday’s company meeting, Ken Blanchard shared Covey’s four basic needs which underlie human fulfillment: to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy.

“The need to live is our physical need for such things as food, clothing, shelter, economical well-being, health. The need to love is our social need to relate to other people, to belong, to love and to be loved. The need to learn is our mental need to develop and to grow. And the need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.”
—Stephen R. Covey

The “L” word—the BIG one—is legacy, the story of you and your imprint upon the world. It’s been a repeated topic of conversation in my spheres lately, as it should be in yours. Visioning is central to the success of organizations, teams, leaders, and individual contributors because it creates a dialogue around the meaning and value behind the work that we do. Your legacy extends far beyond your career into your personal and professional relationships; your family or community involvement and recreational activities; and in your moment-to-moment everyday experiences. What kind of legacy are you building, and where do you even begin? Covey reminds us that life is short, so ask yourself:

What makes life worth living? What’s missing?
What do I need to learn? To unlearn?
How will I be remembered?
What do I dream of?

These are big questions—Give yourself time to develop honest and deeply rooted answers. It can be tempting to dismiss dreams as unattainable or impractical, but dreams stem from a place within each of us that British philosopher, Alan Watts, calls “the deep, down, basic, whatever there is.” In this inspirational video, Watts talks about the human need to feel significant and connected to something greater than ourselves:

There is nothing trivial about finding and giving voice to your purpose in life and however you frame the concept of legacy, the story is yours to write. In another moving video, The Real You, Watts talks about the idea of waking up and finding out who you are. An individual’s sense of self is a complex, idiosyncratic, and exquisite answer to the venerable question: Who AM I?
Before you can build a meaningful legacy, you first need to have a clear picture of who you are and what gives value and purpose to your life. Because your identity defines how you see yourself belonging in the world and relating to others, it is fundamental to creating your vision, living your dreams, and leading others to do the same. In Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the peak is self-actualization—the human need for self-fulfillment and striving to achieve one’s highest potential. This is a process of continual learning so you can always seek new ways of infusing energy and creativity into your everyday events.

Self-development is profound work but it doesn’t need to be intense. A variation of Covey’s four basic needs overlays learning with laughter because we can’t be serious all the time. That’s also why one of the founding principles of The Ken Blanchard Companies is to have fun! On your journey of life, never forget the gift of child-like wonder—not in the sense of immaturity or naivety, but rather of being curious and light-hearted along the way. As you think about who you are and most importantly the unique story you are leading, remember that life is short. Keep the “L” word always in mind.

About the Author:
Sarah is a Professional Services Intern at The Ken Blanchard Companies. She is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Consulting Psychology and her research is based on mindfulness. You can reach her at sarah.maxwell@kenblanchard.com.

Imagination as a Tool for Leadership

Hart Lee — Fri, 30 May 2014 12:57:31 +0000

With this knowledge of the power of thought, you can become a better leader and, as well, motivate your employees to become better workers. Imagine successfully navigating through a difficult conversation. Imagine making your employees feel cared for. Imagine implementing positive change. The more you imagine, the more successful you can be when it comes time to act.

The same holds true for your employees. Let them know that visualizing success can have a huge impact on actual success. Share this video with them. Encourage them to use imagination as a tool for practicing on a new task when hands-on time is limited.

About the author: Hart is an HR Data Analyst at The Ken Blanchard Companies, finishing his Ph.D. in I/O Psychology. He can be reached at hart.lee@kenblanchard.com.

John Muir Had It Right

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 09 May 2014 22:13:49 +0000

Spring has sprung! Has the urge to go outside and bask in the sunlight or stroll through the park become so strong that you can no longer ignore it? You know the feeling…you’re sitting at your desk or around the conference room table, and through the window you see clear blue skies and can think of nothing else except escaping the office and going outside to play—run, surf, cycle, whatever—as long as it involves breathing fresh air, you’ll be happy. Maybe the drive is deeper and what you crave is not just ditching the daily grind, but truly immersing yourself in the wonders of wilderness and spending some time in a pure and natural environment. Admit it, we’ve all been there, but what is it exactly about the call of the wild that is so irresistible? Why do some people feel so compelled to connect with nature?

The answer lies in evidence that it’s not only good for your body; it’s also good for your brain. In a series of behavioral science studies, researchers demonstrated that spending time outside on good weather days, particularly in the springtime when it’s warm and sunny, can positively affect memory, mood, and openness to new ideas that leads to creative and flexible thinking styles. Another key finding is that people who spent more time indoors experienced the opposite effects of their outdoor counterparts. So if you’re struck with spring fever, then it would behoove you to get outside and scratch that itch!
Decades before environmental and cognitive psychologists began studying the mental health benefits of spending time in nature, John Muir (1838 – 1914) himself advocated the now substantiated claims of increased mental clarity and reduced fatigue through stimulation of the senses in the great outdoors. This legendary Scottish-American naturalist and conservationist is affectionately called the Father of National Parks and is the beloved founder of the Sierra Club, one of the foremost organizations dedicated to wilderness preservation. An eloquent writer and speaker, John Muir’s inspirational message is crisp and clear: In order to be whole with yourself, you must first be one with nature. If that statement rings true with you, then find out how much you emulate this iconic environmentalist and renowned nature-lover by taking the Sierra Club’s quiz: How Muir Are You?

An explorer at heart, I have long admired the work of John Muir and I often dream of traveling in his footsteps. When I entered my doctoral program four years ago, I quickly learned the lifestyle fate of all graduate students: goodbye sunshine and social life; hello Friday night dates at home with my laptop. Determined to succeed and hopeful that extrinsic motivation would help carry me through, I dug in my heels and set a goal that when I finally finish the program someday, I will reward myself with an epic backpacking adventure! Living in Southern California, I set my sights on thru-hiking the majestic John Muir Trail, a 211-mile long journey in the High Sierra back country which passes through Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks, and ends at the top of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States (elevation 14,497 feet). Although I have not yet earned the grand prize, the mountains have been calling me and every once in a while, I must go!

During my second year of graduate school I joined a group of 8 hikers who climbed Mt. Whitney, and I remember one of my companions asking what in the world I had in my pack that made it heavier than everyone else’s when we weighed in at the portal. I’m sure I’m not the only hiker in history to foolishly load her pack with journal articles and books to read at camp after a day of grueling high-elevation trekking, but I certainly would not recommend it. Not only was I too exhausted to concentrate on reading, but more importantly I found that my mind was more drawn to simply sitting and being than engaging in any sort of academic exercise. Although my body was weary at the summit, my mind had never felt so awake and open and free! I wanted nothing more than to just sit and be, to listen and smell and feel, to observe and appreciate the raw and captivating beauty and energy of the environment all around me. If you’ve spent any time in the wilderness, then like John Muir, you know exactly what I mean. And if you haven’t…what are you waiting for???

About the Author:
Sarah is a Professional Services Intern at The Ken Blanchard Companies. She is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Consulting Psychology and her research is based on mindfulness. You can contact her at sarahmaxwell@kenblanchard.com.

Can You Get the Delicious Cake?

Hart Lee — Fri, 02 May 2014 09:25:34 +0000

Several years ago, someone posed the following challenge on a popular internet image board:

The goal was “get the delicious cake” and you had to draw your solution. No other rules were given.

One response showed the figure crawling through the spikes, while others used elements from pop culture to get the cake. For instance, Harry Potter magic spells, Star Wars lightsabers, and Super Mario warp pipes were all presented as solutions to this challenge. The following are a few of the more original and creative ways people attained the cake:

Use the door!

When you want to get rid of something in an image, the eraser tool is handy

Thinking outside of the box

The lesson I took from this was that people can get very creative when presented with a problem and given the freedom to devise a solution.

As a leader, you may have goals you need to accomplish, but it is left up to you to determine how to accomplish those goals. With a little time and ingenuity, you can come up with many different and often surprising ways to achieve those goals, particularly when you have the help of others.

So how would you get to the delicious cake? Type your solution in the comments, or you can use your favorite image editor or an online one and post a visual of your solution.

The Smile Test and the Positive Leader

Hart Lee — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 09:32:18 +0000

Did you feel happier? Now try this experiment again with a group of friends in the same room. Look at one another as you smile. Does anything change?

From what I’ve experienced, being around a group enhances the effects of the smile test. Why? Because happiness is contagious. And by smiling, you encourage better moods in the people around you, which can even circle back around and improve your own mood further.

So share your smile and laughter with those around you as much as you can every day. You’ll be regarded as a more positive leader, someone who uplifts and inspires anyone and everyone. You may even find, as Brent did in his experiment, that your day becomes a lot brighter!

Smiling Girl

Overcoming the odds

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 08:00:12 +0000

My dad and I after the surgery

About 5 years ago my father was diagnosed with liver cancer. He was a heavy drinker in his younger days and his cirrhosis compounded his medical issues. Over these 5 years he has gone through chemotherapy, radiation, and a litany of drugs to stabilize his liver. 9 months ago he was finally cancer-free and was then able to be on the transplant list for a new liver. A few weeks ago we received a call that a new liver came in and he needed to be at the hospital as soon as he could. My dad said he felt strange about it and had mixed emotions about the process. “How can I live because someone else has died?” I can’t imagine the competing values he had to deal with. The surgery went better than expected and the transplant was successful. When the doctor pulled the liver out he said he didn’t know how my dad was still alive. He barely had a few inches left of a functioning liver.
What’s different about dad now than before his surgery is his zeal for life. He has always been a very happy and positive person, but something has changed for him. He told me the other day on the phone that he has “a second chance at life.” It got me thinking. What if I lived like I had a second chance at life? How much happier and productive could I be if I lived like this? So go out and make the best of everything. You never know how much you can accomplish with the right mindset
“The Happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything.”

Who Do You Trust?

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:00:57 +0000

If you’re an avid YouTuber, you might have heard of ze frank (listed under the channel zefrank1). I personally know of him for his “educational” videos on animal species mixed with his colorful commentary. Even if you’ve never heard of him, before, you may have heard of BuzzFeed, where ze frank is also the Executive VP of Video.
He’s posted a video to his channel on the topic of trust using two performers from Cirque du Soleil. This video is more of an artistic and emotional look at what trust really is, but in the end, asks this simple question: “Who do you trust?”

This also leads to another question: “Do people see you as trust-worthy?”
If you haven’t, already, be sure to take a look at the TrustWorks model which breaks down 4 main characteristics of trust. Also, be sure to take a look at one of our sister-blogs at www.LeadingWithTrust.com for regular tips on building trust as well as leading others.
Leave your comments!

What are Your Secrets to Being a Revolutionary Leader?

Hart Lee — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 02:35:38 +0000

How quickly things change in 10 years

Think about this: the first iPhone came out in 2007.

Technology changes so rapidly that it is incredibly difficult to keep up with the rate of change. But looking at leadership, have there been as many revolutionary changes in the last seven years as there have been in technology?

Mobile World Congress was this week in Barcelona. For those who don’t know, it’s a huge annual conference where some of the top smartphone manufacturers introduce their latest products. Though Apple was absent, Samsung announced their latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S5. Some advances from the previous version include improved battery life, updated camera, faster processor, a heart-rate monitor, and a new fingerprint scanner (a la iPhone 5s), but despite all of these, its reception has been generally lukewarm because the changes weren’t quite revolutionary.

The response to the S5

Consumers of technology these days demand constant innovation from products. Why shouldn’t your direct reports, the consumers of your leadership, demand the same? Would you be able to keep up?

Let’s get the ball rolling on change. Are you currently doing something differently from other leaders to improve your leadership skills and/or meet the needs of your direct reports? Perhaps that thing you do is actually the game-changer that will revolutionize leadership as we know it. Share it in the comments.

Image Credit: 1 | 2 | 3

Corporate Citizen X

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 19:34:26 +0000

Corporate Citizen X

He was found by all Human Resource accounts to be
An individual contributor against whom had no official complaint,
And all the annual reviews on his performance agree
That, in the new millennial sense of a classic word, he was an
Angel,
For in all of his daily tasks he did serve the greater good of the organization.
Except for one Sabbatical till the day he retired He worked at his desktop and never got fired,
But satisfied his many managers at Grey Consulting Inc.
Yet he wasn’t offensive or strange in his worldview,
For his mature colleagues report that he had paid his dues,
(His HR file also shows this service was satisfactory and sound)
And the outsourced Positive Therapists too had found
That he was respected by his peers and liked to sip the news
Social Media is convinced that he engaged CNN’s blog every day
And that his algorithms regarding advertisements were typical in every way.
Insurance records under his name prove that he was fully insured,
His health card showed it had been swiped once in the ER, and that he left completely cured.
All of Nielsen’s numbers and Gallup results do declare
He had taken full advantage of his 401k-employee match plan,
And had everything necessary for a 21^st century man,
Laptops, SMART phone, wireless signals running through his living room air.
Our investigation into Eco Footprints demonstrate a spirit of circumvent
That he maintained the proper green omissions based on the time of year;
When there was no conflict, he was not conflicted; when there was tension, he was proportionately tense.
He had married and added two and a half children to population,
Which all NBC Social Political polls indicate was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And a few witnesses observed that he never influenced or manipulated their
Online Education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The questions are rediculous and absurd:
Had anything been wrong, in this connected world, we surely would have heard!
A Parody of WH Auden’s, The Unknown Citizen
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant and Learning Media Specialist at The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a self-paced learning course about personal excellence and effective collaboration.

My Vegas Story: Seize the Day, and Night!

Hart Lee — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 09:02:24 +0000

At close to 10PM, the pilot announced that he would be making the final descent to Vegas, the city I had been to only once before for a brief amount of time. I peered down through the plane window and saw the beautifully lit strip, magnificent and thriving. And that kicked off an unforgettable 3 days and 2 nights at the HR Tech Conference earlier this week.

Welcome to Las Vegas

Go see the Cirque shows. Walk around inside the Bellagio. Most importantly, don’t stay in your hotel room! These recommendations from my coworkers bounced around inside my head as I went to my first session of the conference. Being new to HR and to workforce analytics, the information presented and conversations I had with people really highlighted just how much I didn’t know. And sure, this was quite unnerving because everyone around me seemed like they had it all figured out. But in another corner of my brain, I was absolutely thrilled. Here was an opportunity to absorb as much information as I could about a topic I hadn’t really been exposed to before, but was so critical to my work. So I made up my mind to learn as much as I could about the bright minds that made up the HR world.
And then there were the networking events. Wow. Reserving an entire lounge overlooking the strip for a night is definitely not cheap. Especially when there is an open bar. But somehow there were not just one, but two separate networking events that took place both nights I was there. Of course, I took advantage of these events and chatted with very interesting people while getting some good recommendations and advice.
But there was one thing I didn’t get to do. I didn’t step foot on the dance floor. And I generally love to dance. Perhaps it was the thought that I had previously that everyone around me had it figured out. Perhaps it was the lack of liquid courage in my body. Perhaps it was the reservation that I had built up after two girls had “propositioned” me on the strip and I had quickly, but politely, mentioned my girlfriend before taking my leave against their persistence. Whatever it was, as I approached the dance floor, something made me stop.
And when I left, I was filled with regret. The next day was only a half day for the conference and I was to fly out immediately afterwards, so this was my last chance to experience Vegas. I simply couldn’t bring myself to go back to my hotel room. Sure, it was past one in the morning and I was ready for bed, but come on, I was in Vegas! And then I remembered the recommendations. It was too late for a Cirque show, but the Bellagio! And with that, I started walking.

A view of the strip in Las Vegas

It took me almost 40 minutes to get there from the Mandalay Bay because I took my time and enjoyed the buildings. I mean, where else can you see large replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the New York City skyline in the same area? And when I got to the Bellagio, I was amazed at the hand-crafted colored glass pieces that hung from the ceiling. I even got to see the talking tree! Well, it didn’t talk while I stood in front of it, but it did move its eyes and blinked as it smiled. It was surreal.
By the time I got back, it was almost 3 in the morning. I was tired but happy. As I laid down in my bed, my mind drifted back home to San Diego. And I thought, what if I put myself in the shoes of a tourist every day? If I went everywhere with the same sense of wonder and curiosity? If I lived everyday like it was my last chance to experience where I was and what I was doing?
Mark Mayfield, one of the speakers at the conference, declared that everyone knows about perspectives A and B. But to take a unconventional and undiscovered third perspective can exercise one’s creativity and bring more humor and entertainment into one’s life. I wholeheartedly agree.
So have fun, take chances, and don’t ever let regret materialize. And if something ever stops you from walking onto the dance floor, I have just the thing. It’s a statement that I read in a magazine on the return flight: “The No. 1 antidote to fear is experience!”

Enjoy Your Work!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 13:09:29 +0000

“Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.” —The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Tomy Sawyer Whitewasing A Fence by Norman Rockwell

There are high-minded folks who are prone to speak confidently, and perhaps somewhat knowingly, about the challenges of today’s “workplace,” as some distant plot of time and space that is in desperate need of inspiration. These gurus and generals of thought and attitude speak of a place that somewhere along the way has gotten separated from the rest of our lives.
What we have come to call “work” now seems to consist of only duties and tasks that our minds and bodies are obliged to do nearly three out of every four days of our lives, rather than a grand stage where our hearts and souls lead the dance. The mere mention of the word “work” has become synonymous with labor and toil, with survival and disengagement, with quiet desperation and the worship of weekends.
Today’s deepest leadership challenge is not finding a way to influence people and ourselves to work harder or more efficiently; rather it is to inspire and encourage meaning and joy in the tasks we set out to achieve in the service of others.
“The work that is really a man’s own work is play and not work at all,” Mark Twain noted in A Humorist’s Confession. “Cursed is the man who has found some other man’s work and cannot lose it. When we talk about the great workers of the world, we really mean the great players of the world.”

Enjoy Your Work

The poorest paid receptionist to the highest paid executive should be challenged to cultivate the eternal, to store up treasure in others, and to ultimately rename work as pleasure—a dispensation that rewards our highest calling as human beings through the consumption of meaning, purpose, and happiness. The teacher, architect, salesperson, accountant, mechanic, engineer, copy editor, software developer, legislator, actor, pastor, poet, prince, homemaker, painter, speaker, writer, software developer, or singer, should seek the higher rewards of their daily endeavors through the enjoyment and adventure of completing what they have learned to do, have trained to do, were born to do at work.
But the ones who have subtly and silently slipped into the chorus of groans and now tread in the mental pool of toil, have in fact resigned themselves to no longer hope to do something great in their work.
“How can they when their souls are in a ferment of revolt against the employment of their hands and brains? The product of slavery, intellectual or physical, can never be great,” Twain concluded in his sober confession.
It is time to rename work as pleasure and seek to master it with as much passion and persistence as we do a good meal, a child’s laughter, or the deep and intimate connection with a friend or family member who reminds us of how precious this life is. It’s time to renew our spirits during the three out of every four days of which our minds and bodies are not obliged to “work,” but inspired to work with joy.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant at The Ken Blanchard Companies and CoAuthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a virtual learning experience that empowers individuals with the skills to achieve excellence at work.

Inspired vs. Required

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 17:54:21 +0000

It’s back to school time! While the memories of summer fade into our conscious, to be called upon in future years of eternal youth, young minds reluctantly transition into formal education mode. The thought of spending the next nine months sitting in a classroom cramming information into their brains is far from the glorious lessons learned on rope swings down by the river, swimming pools, and lemonade stands of summertime.

Square Peg, Round Hole

So why is it such a haunting proposition to return to the classroom this time every year? Why are our children not as excited about learning—the core purpose education—as they are about the freedoms of summer?
Today’s formal education conditions young people to jump through hoops, rather than train them to think for themselves.
Core curriculum and Standardized Testing provides checklists and incentives/consequences for the fulfillment or lack of fulfillment of the duties outlined. Today, we require rather than inspire a healthy and effective learning process. We worry about skills, test scores, grade point averages and assignments rather than focusing on the process and the development of the whole person into a critical thinker and unique individual contributor with valuable ideas and a mission to fulfill in life.
These children grow up to work for organizations and continue the program they learned in childhood…. hoop jumping, get by, do your duty until their eyes glaze over from the combination of boredom and stress of today’s formal education process.
We applaud those who successfully jump through the hoops and we shake our heads at those who don’t. We forget that some of the greatest minds and contributors to our culture and civilization were children that we would have shaken our heads at in their youth because they couldn’t “hack” it. Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs, as well as many of today’s movers and shakers come to mind.
What would happen if we took time to have great discussions with children? What would happen if we inspired them to learn all they could and then turn around and fulfill their life mission and inspire others in the process? What would happen if we stopped focusing on the outcome (scores, grades) and focused on how effective the process is? What would happen if we adults stopped being “the sage on the stage”, but rather the “guide by the side” and became fellow learners with children showing them how to effectively learn, lead, and apply during the process? What if we mentored them as a whole person and took delight in them and in drawing out their thoughts on various subjects?
When the inspired children grow up, how would that change the way they approached their careers? How would they lead others differently? How would that affect entire organizations as they started to hire employees that had the quiet confidence and desire to serve a higher cause that inevitably stems from having been treated with interest, and respect and given time and attention and encouragement to naturally grow in areas of weakness and strengths, rather than be criticized and measured by the results of cookie cutter tests?
The way we raise and teach our children conditions them to accept mediocrity and boredom and a state of disempowerment as the norm for their adult lives to the detriment of us all. There is a better way, but it is time-consuming, messy, harder, less measurable, but for sure more fulfilling. It’s time to rethink the way we teach our children to becoming healthy, happy, adults through the learning process.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant at The Ken Blanchard Companies and is CoAuthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a virtual learning experience for Individuals in the workplace. He also a Master Trainer of Student Self Leadership, a leadership program designed for youth to be more effective collaborators and problems solvers in their schools and communities.

Leadership Failure

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:00:55 +0000

Not too long ago I was put in charge of a couple sections of soldiers who were working on some military intelligence products for an upcoming mission. Since the teams were working on separate products, I assigned myself to one team and had a Lieutenant take charge of another team. The LT had been in the army for a few years, so I had no qualms about giving the team to him. I spoke with him privately and told him that he had “full autonomy” over his team and gave him full discourse over what his team did and how they finished their products. The next morning I come into work at 7:30 fully expecting everyone to be there for unit physical training. They weren’t. When I asked the LT where his team was, he said that he told them that they could do physical training on their own and that they didn’t need to show up until 9:30am. “What? Why did you do that? We always show up at 7:30.”

So, of course, they decided to sleep in and didn’t do any physical training for the day.
And of course my team was upset that they didn’t get to sleep in and come to work at 9:30. The last thing I wanted to create was resentment across the two teams. I thought that maybe a “team building” exercise was in order, but I didn’t carry it out because I felt I would probably screw that up too. I was upset about the whole situation, but mainly I was irritated at myself.
After looking back on the incident, here’s what I learned:

I never really gave him full autonomy

Here’s what I really said: You can have full autonomy unless you do something I don’t want you to do or something that I disagree with you on. What I told him he could do and what I wanted him to do were two separate things.

I shouldn’t have given him full autonomy

Giving full autonomy over everything is not really leadership at all. I thought I was doing the right thing by giving him autonomy, but what I should have done in that situation was to give him more direction as to what is expected and necessary. Autonomy has its place and limitations; using it correctly is when it’s the most impactful.

My communication was not aligned with my expectations

I was never clear on my expectations. What was standard and status quo for me was not necessarily the same for him. Talking through each other’s expectations would have been helpful for minimizing conflict and building trust.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

The End of Innovation

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:36:25 +0000

“Innovation is dangerous!” says Yawn Fearman, Gatekeeper of Ideas at Acme Corporation—an international consulting firm that provides executives and managers the tools and skill sets needed to maintain power and balance within organizations. “Innovation is an unruly attitude that ignites revolutions and unwillingly forces change upon the slow and steady hand of the status quo.”
Fearman asserts that there several simple mindsets to avoid disruptive an inconvenient ideas within an organization:
Isolate Innovation
When a child acts up or misbehaves at home, the best discipline is to give them a Time Out and send them to their room. You don’t have to kick them out of the organization, but isolation will make them think about the real vision and values of the company in more detail. It will encourage them to align their hopes and dreams with the hierarchy of the organization who own the vision and values.
But if you do want to innovate within your organization, keep it limited to one or two departments that are led by individuals who have a degree from a prestigious school and who are in close collaboration with you as a key leader.
Just Say No
Hey, if it worked for Nancy Reagan in the mid-80s (and look how far we’ve come since then), it can work for leaders when individual contributors come up with creative and new ways to serve clients. When ideas come up from the front line, just say, “no.” You probably don’t have the resources or money to implement the ideas anyway, so no real harm can come from this approach. It’s clean and effective and eventually, people will stop coming up with their own ideas so that you can do your job—implementing your own.
Show Them Who’s Boss
When the first two strategies don’t work, flex your Position Power. You have the degree, the experience, the complex title, and the pay grade—so use them!
If employees discover that they have other avenues of power, such as personal experience, knowledge, relationships outside the organization, or a specialized ability to perform specific tasks that the executives may or may not, this could become very disruptive to an organization. Don’t shy away from the fact that you are getting paid the big bucks to drive the organization into the future—not them. You have the title and the authority to make the first and final decision.
Enjoy the Silence
Don’t allow the loud distractions of individual or collaborative innovation to drown out the brilliance of your leadership ability. You’ve earned the corner office, and you were born to lead. The future of the world depends on you—don’t leave it to chance by putting its fate hang on someone else’s wild ideas.
** The views and opinions expressed in this fictitious article do not necessarily reflect sound advice or the views and opinions of  the author, or The Ken Blanchard Companies.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant at The Ken Blanchard Companies and Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, an asynchronous learning experience for Individual Contributors within Organizations.

Want to be productive? Stay home from work

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:42 +0000

Absenteeism (not showing up to work) is a well-documented and researched metric. However, the evil twin brother of absenteeism is presenteeism, and it’s now starting to get some more attention. Presenteeism is defined as showing up for work when one is ill, and it is literally a productivity killer. It is estimated that the costs associated with presenteeism due to poor employee health is at least 2 to 3 times greater than direct health care expenses. The total cost of presenteeism to US employers has been increasing, and estimates for current losses range from about $150 to $250 billion annually. Consequences to presenteeism can be loss of productivity, major health costs, inaccuracies on the job, and spreading of illness to name a few. We all have done it, but we should really think twice about coming into work when we are sick. However, it’s just not that simple, and there are many reasons why just can’t say no.

There are many antecedents to presenteeism but here are some major reasons:
1) Our culture/manager fosters this behavior
I’m probably not the only one has been praised for being a team player and coming in when I was extremely ill. In a recent survey by the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), researchers found that employees who indicated that their employer was not supportive in helping them become emotionally healthy were 320% more likely to have high presenteeism. A 2010 study by the Work Foundation found that more than 40% of employees were under pressure from managers and colleagues to come to work when ill.
2) Fear of losing your job
In research done in 2012, nearly a third of employers have reported a rise in the phenomenon of “presenteeism” in the past year. With the economy slowly turning the corner, employees are worried about losing their job or falling behind in the rat race. Dr Jill Miller, research adviser at CIPD, said, “Continuing economic uncertainty and fears over job security appears to be taking its toll on employees. We are seeing employees struggling into work to demonstrate their commitment, suggesting presenteeism can be a sign of anxiety.”
3) Pressure to perform
For some reason we equate our perception of the seriousness of the illness in direct proportion to justifying taking time off. “It’s probably just meningococcal so I should be fine; I doubt it’s contagious anyways.” Let’s leave the diagnoses to the professionals and see if we can’t rest for a little bit. In a recent conversation with an old friend he told me, “I have worked for my company for 20 years and I have never ever taken a sick day.” Well, why not? He said he had maintained the “old school” mentality of work, work, work. This never made sense to me; if you are sick, then why don’t you just stay home? Now I’m being a little hypocritical here because I have often got to work when I really was too sick to go. But the worst part about it was that he worked in a hospital!
4) Little or no sick days
Increasingly, employers have minimized the number of sick days and most of the time; we just can’t afford to miss work. Also, with the increasing amount of households turning into a dual income family, many parents are using their sick days to care for their children when they become ill instead of taking care of themselves.
There doesn’t seem to be any extreme changes on the horizon in the way employers handle presenteeism, however we owe it to ourselves to take care of our bodies and be present when we can afford to. Sometimes urgent can just wait until tomorrow.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

The Look of Ethical Leadership

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:00:18 +0000

Call me idealistic, but I want more from Gen X and Gen Y when it comes to leadership. I want to see us go beyond the standard leadership stereotypes to something more global, accepting, and inclusive. To encourage non-typical leadership types to emerge and develop.
Can you imagine what it might look like if high-potentials weren’t chosen based on how well they fit the corporate image, but instead on how well they treat others? Have we gone overboard with making sure leaders present themselves a certain way as seen in the following video?

Sure, they all have the right corporate image, but is that what the leader of the future should be? What if these guys in the following video were the most ethical leaders you would ever met…

What about those people you work with right now who might not say the right corporate buzz-words, wear the right clothes, or graduate from the right schools?
What if instead, true leaders naturally emerge because everyone whom they come into contact with experiences a solid trustworthy person. When faced with the decision between right or wrong without hesitation he or she takes the ethical high-road. They might not have the right hair, but go out of their way to give credit to the entry-level employee with the bright idea that just made the company millions.
Maybe leadership looks more like the quiet co-worker who detests public speaking and back-to-back meetings, but whose character is unmistakable. Maybe it’s the guy who knows nothing about golf and can’t stand wearing polo shirts or it’s the girl who really doesn’t want to hide her tattoo because it’s part of who she is.
What if tomorrow’s leaders are more about the inside than the outside? Less about the look and more about how they make you feel. Can you imagine? What if tomorrow’s leaders make good decisions, treat people well, and have brilliant ideas, but don’t look or sound the part.
I realize that in a global context, defining what it means to be an ethical leader will differ slightly, but the idealist in me once again asks whether we can move to a broader view of what an ethical leader should look like…
…to a leader who treats others with respect at every given opportunity, someone who is inclusive in encouraging dissenting opinions and viewpoints. Someone who really hears the thoughts and ideas of others, who doesn’t hold an employee’s title over his or her head as a mark of competence, and instead encourages all people regardless of background to lead at all times in everything they do.
All regardless image. Can you imagine…something different?

***

Cheryl DePonte is a Human Resources Learning and Performance Specialist at The Ken Blanchard Companies and has over 15 years experience in the fields of organizational effectiveness and human resources development.

Know Yourself

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:23:58 +0000

“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” —William Shakespeare

When recently opening a package of Green Tea, the quote, “It’s not a privilege to know others. Know yourself. That’s a privilege,” was attached to the string. Perhaps the tea manufacture was having a caffeinated paraphrasing of a Lao Tzu philosophy to push the notion that you’ll some how be more enlightened when you drink this potion.

Self Reflection?

As random as it may have seemed at the moment, I gave fate it’s due because I’ve recently been discovering behaviors about myself and how I work under pressure that have been most curious. In full confession, I wasn’t immediately enthusiastic or inspired to act on the words of encouragement from the Teabag—knowing oneself can be a very frightening proposition, and may cause even more stress than we are ready for.
On one hand, the business of getting to Know Yourself may at first seem as if it could turn into a narcissistic escapade into an investigation of your own perceived flaws or perfections. Today, where we can turn every smart phone application into our own personal news network, status updating everyone on our trip to the gym, the food & drink we are consuming at any given moment, or snapping off a half dozen “Selfies” at arms length or in the mirror. The business of Knowing Oneself has the potential to quickly turn into how we want others to see us—not who we truly are.
And as daunting as the Tea Leaf’s proposition was to me, the notion of Self Knowledge is as ancient as cave paintings. The great philosopher Aristotle proposed that everybody has a rational and irrational side of their Self, used for identifying our own needs then making decisions according to those needs.
One of the greatest failures in the today’s workplace, and even more destructive in a knowledge based economy, is the inability for individuals to effectively determine our own needs, leading us to make less quality decisions while executing our daily tasks. The core reason we don’t know what our daily needs are is that we fail to read the tea leaves—we rarely stop to take account of what our strengths and weaknesses are, what perceptions we have about our own needs and abilities, and when we need to reach out to others for the proper direction or support of the goals or tasks we’re working on.
Taking a moment to look at yourself and your own needs is not some vain exploration into how you can serve yourself better, but rather a reflection on how you could more effectively serve others when you Know Yourself better.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant at The Ken Blanchard Companies and Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action.

Tips to Contain the Crazy: Increasing Productivity While Reducing Stress

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:30:54 +0000

I love to learn new ways to increase my own productivity while also reducing stress. I call it containing the crazy. Like many of you, I cling to my calendar, my to-do list…I shudder to think of the chaos should I ever lose my phone.

Recently, I decided to try some new ways to be more productive and less stressed:

1. Spa water – in a scientific study, those who were fully-hydrated had improved mood and were less sleepy. So, I decided to try drinking spa water (sometimes called “infused water”) and I’m hooked. You get your water in for the day and it’s flavored without all the calories and chemicals. Refill as needed and enjoy. Here is a wikihow on how to make spa water:

How to make spa water

2. Concentration Music – it is said that listening to baroque classical music has been scientifically shown to improve mood, productivity, and concentration. So, I decided to give it a whirl and wouldn’t you know, it works! I get more work done faster and more precisely while being relaxed the entire time. Gotta love classical music! Here is a sample for your listening pleasure:

3. A Timer – scientific studies also show we have a limited attention span for tasks. This time has varied in studies anywhere from 10 minutes to up to 40 minutes. So, I set a timer and only worked on a task for a specified period and then took a break. I also used a timer to go back and forth between tasks. This has worked wonders for getting many more things done in a day than I could have imagined. A link to a fabulous, easy-to-set online timer:
Online Timer
These tips for containing the crazy work well for my own personal work style and help me to be a more calm, productive, and focused leader.
Share with us your tips to contain the crazy, increase productivity, and reduce stress. No matter how unique they may be, please share! What works for you?

What’s wrong at work? You may need an Alberti

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:00:07 +0000

As a kid, I watched the movie Renaissance Man with Danny DeVito. Some of you may remember the film. Danny DeVito is this Advertising Executive with an Ivy League background who is fired from his job. He gets a temporary teaching position and is given six weeks to teach low-achieving soldiers the basics of comprehension and use of English language. He uses Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and other avenues to teach his students. Yet, only one of the historical figures covered in the film has mesmerized me ever since: His name is Leon Battista Alberti.
When I was in Spain a few years ago I had the opportunity to see some of his work at the Prado in Madrid. That’s when I knew, Leon Battista Alberti was the quintessential Renaissance Man. He was the Renaissance Man even before we knew what it was. In fact, Alberti is largely credited with actually defining the term Renaissance man as “men can do all things if they will.” He grew up pre-Renaissance in Bologna because his family was ousted out of Florence by the republican government, run by the Albizzis. His mother died as a result of the Bubonic Plague and he and his brother were raised by his father. He studied architecture and painting, he was a self-taught composer and musician, and he was a heck of an athlete, particularly known in the area for his fine horsemanship. A legend of Alberti states that he could stand flat-footed, look into a man’s eyes and leap right over his head. This legend is exactly why I still remember Leon Battista Alberti today.
“No crime is so great as daring to excel.” Winston Churchill
Often times in our work we become overrun with responding to emails, balancing projects, and stressing over the unknown that we hardly have time to develop certain skills that will set us apart from our peers. Or even leap us beyond our peers. Here are some questions to ask yourself for self-evaluation and reflection to help you find your “Alberti”:
What am I good at? Be honest here. Don’t overvalue your stock on this because others won’t see the same value and you might end up trying to sell a stock that’s overpriced.
What does this organization need/lack that I could champion? Your Alberti needs to be aligned with the organization. In order for it to be value added it must correspond with the vision of your organization.
Do I have the resources? If not, how can I get them? Look at your own career. What is the next step? A degree? A certification? If you can’t access any resources where can you go to get them? Getting stagnate on your skills is one way to have a mediocre career.
Does this matter to me? In a recent interview, former President Clinton was asked if he was selfless for committing so much time to his non-for-profit organizations. He said, “It’s because I’m selfish. I do it because it makes me feel good about myself.” If it doesn’t matter to you, your motivation to prioritize it and work on it won’t be sustained.
So, what’s your Alberti? Are you known in the office for doing something that adds value? If not, then find your Alberti and pursue it.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

The Edge of Leadership

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:57:26 +0000

Five Smooth Stones

Made from old wires and glass bulbs. With almost nothing, Edison made the impossible happen! –Oz, The Great and Powerful
Ever since a little shepherd boy knelt down to pull five smooth stones from a quiet brook to strike down a loud and defiant giant, the small but efficient approach to life has had tremendous value. In fact, now as we move from the Goliath factories of the assembly line Industrial Age, and into the rapid currents of change in the technology-driven Information Age, small is the new big.
Today’s organizations need employees, leaders, and strategies that are lean and agile to maintain a significant competitive advantage in today’s rapidly evolving workplace.
A small software firm in Denver, CO, Providigm LLC, has been employing the agile approach to their daily workflow with great results. Matthew Emge, the Quality Assurance Lead is a central figure in the wildly successful agile collaboration exercised daily at Providigm. The long and lanky tech guru, in his blue jeans and black t-shirt, looks like he just stepped off a college campus rather than serve as double-decade tech vet. “Agile manages stress,” Emge says, and it’s helping him and his colleagues excel through the small but efficient approach to their projects.
Agile Development
“I like agile because it’s a great way of adapting to constant change, minimizing rework, encouraging communication and giving value to every member of the team,” he reflects.

Agile Collaboration

Each morning Emge and his colleagues participate in a scrum. In rugby football, a scrum refers to the manner of restarting the game after a minor infraction. The scrums at Providigm are short meetings with the Development Team to circle up around the project. During the scrum, the team gathers with the Product Owner (who represents the client’s interests) for an open meeting that lasts five to ten minutes. Each member of the team becomes a short storyteller, describing what they did the previous day, what they plan for the current day, and what potential obstacles or roadblocks are in the way of a productive day. After the meeting, the group collaborates on shared tasks, evaluates where they are at in the learning process, clarifies any uncertainty around shared goals, and resolves any outstanding conflicts.
Iterations
The day-to-day work at Providigm is part of a short work cycle called an iteration. Ideally, iterations last two to four weeks.
“We begin with a planning meeting to assign tasks,” Emge describes. “We complete the work, and when it’s finished, we hold a demo to show the product owner what we’ve done.”
In the demo meeting the agile team documents any requested changes, which are included in the planning meeting for the next iteration. Shortly after the planning meeting the development team meets for a retrospective meeting where each member of the team tells what worked or didn’t work. Under the guidance of a manager, the team collectively commits to making the small adjustments needed for improvement and efficacy in the next Iteration.
Collaborative Communication
But agile collaboration is not only about working in small iterations; it’s about collaborative communication every step of the way through the project. Rather than isolating teams in cubicles or offices, only to come together for long and often boring information dump meetings, where people pound their chest like proud Philistines, the agile team at Providigm works in the bullpen—a close quarters setting where anyone can be called upon at any moment.
“We talk to each other and collaborate throughout the day. But we keep documentation to a minimum because we know false assumptions can easily creep in if we overthink things. The manager and product owner are always close by if we need to speak face-to-face in order to make quick decisions for moving forward.”
The Agile Difference
To appreciate the benefits of agile collaboration you have to understand how software used to be developed. In the past, there would be months of planning, long tiresome meetings, mountains of project documentation, more months of seemingly endless coding. Finally, at the end of the lengthy development cycle, the product would take more months to be tested and approved for release.
“Back in those days,” Emge recalls, “We worked with a great deal of assumptions. While we were scrupulous in addressing those assumptions, inevitably there were too many assumptions to address all at onc. And we would often be wrong. When the product was released, we’d have to revise months of work just to get back on course. It was like trying to turn the Titanic, and if we were too slow for the market, we’d have to scrap the project and start over with something new.”
The Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge

To understand the agile approach, imagine you are making a pocketknife for a client. With the old development methods, business analysts would talk to the consumer and draw up lengthy plans for a smart knife with a camera, wi-fi connection, gps, apps, and cheese grater for that special moment. After the documentation and meeting marathons, developers would dig in and code the knife to the analysts’ specifications. Upon release, consumers would try it out and say most of the features were useless and got in the way—but the cheese grater would be nice if they actually made dinner at home. What’s more, the blade was too dull to cut anything.
In agile development, the process would start by releasing a knife with one single blade. The agile team would see how consumers are using it and not using it, make adjustments, and then add another essential feature.
“Before continuing, we listen to our users and make changes to meet their needs. We proceed one step at a time with constant consumer review,” Emge summarizes.
That’s how agile works—sharp as a well-made Swiss blade–with small but efficient steps that lead to an amazingly effective and refreshing approach to producing goods and services. Who knows, perhaps it’s even simple enough for a little shepherd boy facing a giant.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant and CoAuthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a virtual leadership program for individual contributors in the workplace.
Register Now for the Blanchard Leadership Livecast “Doing ‘Still’ More With Less” to see Jason’s video on The Lean Approach to innovation. This is a free online event with guest commentary from Ken and Scott Blanchard!

Great Leaders Model Happiness

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:09:45 +0000

Goals provide people with a vision or a light at the end of the tunnel. They are conjured up in the hope that people’s dream lives can be attained. Aspiring minds seek to push beyond the belief of what is deemed possible in the world (as it is known) and set goals that will carry the human species to the next level of evolution.

But does perfection exist? Is it an attainable reality that people would actually know they have achieved?

My answer is, no perfection is not real, however I base my life on setting and achieving goals which carry me along toward one end result…happiness. I believe happiness is what everyone is searching for in their lives. It is the fuel that energizes each person to wake up in the morning and walk out their front door hoping to find the one moment that makes their day.

Happiness is perfection. Yet most discover it far too late in their lives to enjoy it.

Make it your goal now to enjoy each moment. Enjoy the moment, no matter where you are, what you are doing, or with whom you are interacting. Take ownership of yourself and don’t leave your sense of positive well-being in the hands of someone or something else. You have all the power in the world to make your life the best it can possibly be and if you believe that you are your best self then others will follow your lead.

Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson

To learn more about how your focus influences your ability to achieve more than you perceive possible, Register Now for the Leadership Livecast “Doing ‘Still’ More With Less”. This is a free online event with guest commentary from Ken and Scott Blanchard!

Narcissism and How We Perfected It

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:00:45 +0000

I’m taking a rather ambitious stab at clearing the name of an entire generation with a single blog post. I have not been chosen by my generation to represent us, but by definition I’m entitled so I deserve a shot. Many have called Gen Yers as Generation “Me”, but I see it more as “Generation Y Not Me?” We’ve been called rude, entitled, lazy, narcissistic, and smart – ok, I snuck the last one in there, but you get the point.

Ok, so we like to watch a little TV and play video games, so what’s the big deal? We live life on the edge (of reality) and love to surf (the web) and socialize (on Facebook) all day. We are the doers. We seek not war, but peace. We love reality television and hang on every word they say (even the illiterate ones). We are not better than any of you, but we are special. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are just extensions of our inner self. We love rap music, iPhones, and Dancing with the Stars (my wife made me put that in here). We are not all about ourselves; everyone is just all about us.
This is our motto.
Tom Brokaw accurately named the World War II generation as the Greatest Generation. After reading the book, watching the Band of Brothers series, and hearing the stories from WWII vets themselves, I can’t deny this. These men and women were some of the purist of Americans—hard-working, dedicated, and loyal to their values. I remember visiting Normandy about 10 years ago and seeing the crosses of the buried soldiers neatly displayed—such a beautiful display of sadness and pain. In my own experience as a captain in the Army and a combat veteran serving in Afghanistan, I hardly saw any sense of entitlement among the troops. There were men and women who were generally unhappy to be there (I admit even sometimes I wondered why we were there), and hated everything about the war, but they still wanted to fight. There was a sense of pride about them and they fought long and hard. While in Afghanistan, I had a West Point Captain tell me about his 18-month deployment. He said the length of the deployment really hit him hard at the first Thanksgiving dinner. They were just about to start eating when one of his soldiers said, “Hey sir, don’t worry about saying grace. I’ll do it this year and you can say grace next year.”
I don’t claim we are the Greatest Generation but I do think Gen Y has contributed significantly more than just TV and video games. We are a young generation, but like many others we adapt, overcome, and move on. I never liked the label, “entitlement generation” because frankly I don’t think we deserve it. I hope this generation can rid ourselves of this brand and demonstrate the core American qualities that have been delivered to us from previous generations.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

George Washington's Leadership Legacy

Blanchard Associate — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:26:30 +0000

Let’s indulge, for a moment, on a seasonal exposition that preys on a national day of remembrance—not as a desperate attempt to capitalize on optimal web search methods spiked by the holiday; but rather as mildly hopeful attempt to cull out wisdom from the past, in hopes of gleaning some bit of meaning and truth for our present circumstances.

Washington Revolution

Yes, George Washington is the father of our county. Yes, he is the guy on the One Dollar Bill and a few of those silver tokens we used to slide into the arcade machine at 7-11 as a kid. Yes, he is one of the four presidents enshrined on Mt. Rushmore, as a tribute to several of America’s most recognized and cherished leaders.
Washington’s wisdom is not found in the mythological figure he has become in today’s modern media culture—although I doubt he would have as many FaceBook friends as his other famous February cult hero, St. Valentine. Washington’s legacy is as solid and secure today as it was the day he published his Farewell Address in the American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796—One of the great pieces of American Political Literature that every American Citizen should read on a day we should honor the legacy of leadership he has left us with.
It is in this address that the core of Washington’s leadership legacy rings most loudly and clearly. In his closing thoughts, to the American people, a people he had served so nobly throughout the many fragile moments of a nation in its infancy, he turns to them with a most astonishing request.
Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors.
American’s Zeus. The conquering hero of the American Revolution! The man who could never tell a lie! The highest authority of a new nation, at the absolute pinnacle of his popularity and power, turning to his people and confusing his shortcomings, before asking for their forgiveness. An astonishing moment in world history, and perhaps the most important lesson for leaders today—having power, but laying the sword of his authority at the feet of his people through service.
Let us not overlook a great leadership lesson amidst a sea of leadership lessons by one of the great leaders the world has known. George Washington shows a humility and grace that set the standard, not only for future presidents, but any great leader—yesterday, today, or tomorrow.

Work Less

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:34:13 +0000

If you want to be great at work—work less!

Hair on Fire!

Organizations around the world are struggling to keep up with the complex demands of their clients and constituents while restrained by reduced budgets and limited resources. Individuals and teams are frantically trying to come up with the next big idea that will drive revenues or reduce costs but are overwhelmed by the process. Hysteria abounds, projects flop, and market share flickers like a candle in a cold dark room with cracks in the mortar.
In a world where people are struggling to do more with less, the answer is not to fuel up on Starbucks, set your hair on fire, and simply work harder with fewer resources. The answer is to manage the fire by working smarter with what resources you have—caffeine is optional.
Lean times call for lean ideas.

The Lean Startup

In his book, The Lean Startup, Eric Reis discovers and explores a concept called a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), an idea generation process that requires minimum amount of effort within the least amount of development time. In the world of Startups, an MVP helps entrepreneurs and business leaders go through the product development learning curve as quickly and effectively as possible. A Minimal Viable Product doesn’t mean that it has to be a tiny project or product, it simple means that you accelerate your learning cycle on what will or won’t work in the market place by testing a piece of your idea with minimal time and resources.
A fundamental mistake leaders often make, at all levels of an organization, is that they attempt to solve a big problems and challenges all at once. Good leaders of self and others understand that for every major responsibility they have, there are sets of goals that can help guide them toward success. Further more, within those goals are a series of tasks that can be broken down into manageable, executable projects, while testing the solution theories for reliability and effectiveness. The smaller the task, the less energy expanded, and the more likely you will be able to make quick adjustments that drive you toward an effective resolution of the larger problem, one small step at a time.
Creating Minimal Viable Products or Tasks is not just a means to find answer to technical or finical questions; but also a means to test fundamental business or social ideas before wasting too much time and talent creating a solution that nobody will invest in. Today’s leader of self or others needs to put out minimal viable effort. In other words, today’s leader needs to think lean—to work less in order to achieve more.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant and Learning Media Specialist at The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a virtual learning experience that helps individuals collaborate with others more effectively.

Personal engagement: it's a relationship thing!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:00:07 +0000

As so many of us focus on the newness of setting goals and resolutions, I find myself looking back over various relationships with friends, coworkers, and others that were once new and have now matured to be strongly connected and bonded.
The day-to-day work I do is something routinely accomplished within hundreds of organizations. Although some of these organizations may have more resources and are perhaps more sophisticated in their processes than my own, what these organizations don’t have are my friends and those who I have come to care about.
I used to believe a job that allowed me to accomplish meaningful work, utilize my talents, and recognize my accomplishments was the real key to career happiness…to true engagement. I pictured myself accomplishing goals and completing projects much to the delight of my superiors and earning that ego-affirming bonus or raise. Truth be told, these things are important and something I strive for. Yet, when I find myself completing a task that can be, shall we say, less than fulfilling, it is my coworkers-turned-friends that make the job more meaningful and fulfilling.

It was not always this way. Like any new hire in any organization, at first I spent lunches alone, felt awkward at company events, and had to endure hearing the “who is she?” question just out of earshot. Over time, I saw how people in the organization built bonds with one another and how they eventually did the same with me.
In previous jobs, I interacted with those I worked with, attended the obligatory coworker’s family event, and said hello as necessary. Years after, there are a few people from each of those jobs who I consider to be friends…but only a few.
What I have come to realize is that engagement often seems to be a term employees believe an organization should own. For example, engagement is a word often mentioned as part of “problem” for an organization to solve.
Instead, I have learned how to create my own personal engagement by bonding with those I work with.
I created my own sense of engagement by:
1. Sharing personal stories with coworkers, like what funny things a parent said and how my dog chewed my favorite pillow. I became comfortable with laughing a little…and connecting by sharing the most mundane topics.
2. Stopping the multitasking when a coworker offered to share a personal story with me. I gave him or her my full, undivided attention, making the moment about them.
3. When coworkers or others in my organization (or industry) did not reach out to me, seemed to ignore me, or for whatever reason do not connect with me, I tried my best to keep it in perspective. I realized that some people are slow to trust, have personal issues, or are simply not ready to be vulnerable with newer organizational or industry members.
The more bonds I built, the more I found I was inexplicably, personally engaged in my work.
Try it, but don’t get discouraged if it takes time. The rewards are worth the effort!

Times Like These

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 17:52:08 +0000

I’m a little divided. Do I stay or run away and leave it all behind? —The Foo Fighters
There is something different to ponder, on a more intimate level, this holiday season. Slight of hand and a twist of fate have befallen our world, again, in ways we weren’t meant to imagine. With every moment of silence, (something we are not very good at, in our opinion driven, mainstream and social media networked world) I am left search for answers to questions I can’t even begin to understand. I have found very few this past week.

Times Like These

But somehow there, in those moments of silence, a thought, inside of a tune played by an American Rock band, The Foo Fighters, Times Like These, has hung on me like smoke from a camp fire that lingers on one’s clothes—reminding you of a place remembered.
I’m a wild light blinding bright burning off alone.
Some of the most destructive moments in life come from a bright light smoldering in isolation. A disillusioned soul that has some how forgotten or been allowed to retreat to an island and become cut off from others. There, in those places, are no political, theological, or philosophical commentaries—only the burning embers of what used to be or could be again.
Individuals are to be connected to others, collaborating on ideas that make the world a better place. And even though cultivating real and intimate personal and professional relationships is hard, it’s our calling as leaders and individuals to reach out and show compassion to those in isolation—even when we lack understanding.
One of the most vivid moments in Charles Dickens classic tale, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge wakes up after a harrowing evening of being visited by three ghosts who show him what he was and what he has become. Ebenezer recommits himself to reaching out to others and being more compassionate. And in one of the most touching moments of the story, he shows up to his nephews house for Christmas dinner, after rejecting his invitation the day before. After a gasp of surprise by the estranged uncle’s presence, family and friends warmly welcome the recently reformed soul back into the loving arms of community and fellowship.
There in those moments of silence this past week I have been reminded that, “It’s times like these you learn to live again. It’s times like these you give and give again. It’s times like these you learn to love again. It’s times like these time and time again.”
Don’t wait for a holy day—a day set apart from the others—to reach out to others who’s wild light may be flickering. It just may be the one light the world needs right now.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consulting Associate with The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is the Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a virtual learning experience that helps individuals effectively collaborate with others at a higher level.

The Reluctant, Non-Conformist Leader

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:00:10 +0000

Lately, I have been listening to friends and colleagues regarding their desired career path. You know, the whole, “someday, when I grow up I want to be a (fill in the blank here)” conversation? For the longest time, I believed my own reluctance to lead, my unwillingness to sacrifice my own happiness just to earn that corner office with the window and prime parking spot, set me apart. That somehow I was special and unique and on a different path. I figured that rebellious streak; the non-conformist…defined by my lack of desire to be an executive took me down a road much less traveled.
Not so much…
…turns out, I am not alone.
From my coworkers and friends, I am hearing a definite reluctance to lead. It seems there has been so much focus on scurrying about to determine just how to lead Gen X and Y that the question of whether we want to become future leaders has been ignored like a worn-down speed bump at the local strip mall.

The traditional notion of hierarchical leadership does not resonate with me. I would sacrifice pay, benefits….and even the corner office with the killer view, for a more flexible work schedule…or even no work schedule at all. When I lead, I prefer to do so with a team of peers (and forget the term “peers”, I call them coworkers and more often than not, friends) where several perspectives on the best way to approach something is ideal. I want to lead from my home, the local coffee shop, my car, the beach. Not exactly the job description we see for today’s executive.
According to Matt Dunne, in his article Policy Leadership, Gen X Style, Gen Xers in particular tend to be more entrepreneurial in their style, use technology as a competitive advantage, and learn how to do many different types of jobs. Anne Houlihan takes it a step further in her article Taking Charge stating that Gen Xers value balance; we are indeed results driven and see little value in providing face-time to those leading us. Our goal is to produce and get the job done, even if it is from our home office when a family member is sick…including the dog. We want collaboration, mentoring, and to be believed, trusted, and valued. We want to have a life and live it too.
Cheryl Cran eloquently stated the view I have observed of many members of Gen X and Y in the following video:

As a leader, I would hire for character, reliability, and results by surrounding myself with people who have the proven ability to get it done, however “it” is defined. The performance of those I lead is defined by their reputation to engage, be present, yet still multi-task autonomously. I am not concerned if your work experience involved raising a family, running a marathon, or writing a paper. If you can produce and are sincerely passionate about the work we would collaborate on, then I am interested.
Perhaps if my fellow members of Gen X and Y decided to redefine what it means to lead an organization, we might be less reluctant to “fill in the blank here” with the term “leader”.

Leadership is Luck

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:51:11 +0000

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times… —A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
The opening lines to Charles Dickens classic, A Tale of Two Cities could not have expressed any better, my eleven year old son’s feelings about his favorite football team, the Indianapolis Colts, one year ago at this time. The Colts had gone from perennial Super Bowl contenders each year for the past decade, led by a future Hall of Fame quarterback, Peyton Manning. It was the best of times for Colts fans.

Luck

But that all went away when Manning had to go through a series of operations on his neck that left him sidelined for the entire 2011 season, and his professional football career in doubt. The Colts could only muster two wins out of sixteen games under the leadership of a variety of quarterbacks that couldn’t elevate the team to even a respectable showing. The Colts missed the playoff for the first time in a decade, the head coach was fired, and the end of an era for Manning in Indianapolis was coming to an end. It was the worst of times for Colts fans.
However, the worst of times was short lived. In one of the most ironic twists of fate in modern sports history, the Colts became the luckiest team in the league. As a result of the worst record 2011, they were aligned to have the number one overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft. And in a controversial move, they dropped their Hall of Fame quarterback, uncertain if he would be able to play again, and choose the All American quarterback out of Stanford, Andrew Luck, to replace the legend at the helm of the Colts offense.
Since then, the rookie quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts has resurrected an organization from the ashes of the National Football League, not only by his decision making abilities and skill sets on the field, but his attitude and inspiration off the field of play. Nine games into the season, the young quarterback has led his team to a 6-3 record mid-way through the season, tripling their win total over last year and positioning them for an improbable shot at the playoffs.
A great quarterback is like a great leader in the workplace. It doesn’t take long to be in the workforce before you realize that there are good leaders (managers, bosses, supervisors) and there are bad leaders. We’ve all probably had at least one awful leader that we’ve had to work for. And of course, there are the disengaged managers who are neither good nor bad—they are just there to make sure that the organizational chart is up to date and protocol is followed.
There is an obvious difference between a great leader and a terrible leader. But there is also a significant difference between a great leader and an average leader. The difference between a great leader and an average leader isn’t about how much smarter they are or even the quality of the decisions they make day in and day out. The difference between a great leader and an average leader is what they do to make the people they work with better!
Andrew Luck is often only credited for the way he runs the Colts complicated offense, and his knowledge of the game that are far beyond the years he has been in the league. But there is so much more Luck does for his team that goes beyond the offense. The longer he sustains a drive, coming up with key third down conversions, and eating up time on the clock, the more the Colts defense gets to rest on the sideline.
Andrew Luck’s character goes beyond his skill sets. When the Colts head coach, Chuck Pagano, was diagnosed with leukemia only a few games into the season, Luck took the lead in support for his coach by shaving his head—a show of solidarity for the coach who would loose his hair due to the chemotherapy treatments. Most of the team followed the young quarterbacks lead and the team has rallied around their ailing coach to rattle off four wins in a row—one of the most inspirational stories in recent years.
For whatever reason, many individuals are content with the status quo. They come to work; they put in their time at work, pull their paycheck, and are satisfied with a job that’s good enough. They may have run into roadblocks or constraints in their career that keep them from taking risks or thinking of ways they could do their job better—the multitude of individual contributors who have settled for average. This doesn’t mean that they are bad people, they’ve just settled into a lifestyle of mediocrity and aren’t really pushed to be better.
Great leaders inspire those individual contributors on the front line of organizations to rise above the temptation to settle for average. They inspire the people they are leading to find, cultivate, and develop the personal desire for excellence within. Great leaders take average contributors and make them good contributors, and they take good contributors and make them great. The entire organization benefits from this type of leadership.
That is exactly what Andrew Luck does. He has taken made his teammates better as a young leader of a proud franchise that has a rich history of success. He has diverted a long winter of discontent for that organization and has inspired Colt’s players and fans alike to hope for the best of times again. Leadership isn’t just about knowledge and skills, sometimes it is Luck.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consulting Associate at The Ken Blanchard Companies and is Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a virtual learning program designed to develop personal and professional excellence.

Higher Learning

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:48:06 +0000

While recently wandering the streets of Cambridge, MA, just across the Charles River from Boston, I made my way to the threshold of Harvard University, often sited as one of the most prestigious schools in the world. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, founded in 1636.

Harvard Yard Autumn

At the south end of Harvard’s campus, on Massachusetts Avenue stands Dexter Gate—a stone arched walkway that sneaks quietly under Wigglesworth Hall. This entrance serves as the eye of the needle into Harvard Yard—the heart of Harvard University.
But for all of its foot traffic, few students or visitors notice the carved inscription above the gate as you enter into this Mecca of Higher Learning,

Enter Wisdom

Enter to Grow in Wisdom

As I roamed the colorful yard, painted by the tip of Autumn’s brush, gazing upon the buildings surrounding this beautiful centerpiece, I contemplated this place as the temporal home to some of the most influential leaders and thinkers since the enlightenment. Great men and women who had entered the hallowed halls of her academia—a host of United States and International Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Dignitaries, Lawyers, Authors, Poets, and Business Leaders. (It was also here that FaceBook was conceived to the delight of us contemporary learners).
As I stood at the statue of John Harvard, reaching for my iPhone to make a status update, gather some information about Mr. Harvard and the history of the university, a funny thought struck me. I pondered what he might think of the device that I, and the many people standing around me in Harvard Yard at that moment, held in our hands. Like an ephinay that Emerson or Eliot might have had in this very yard, I sensed the merging of classic learning with contemporary learning.

John Harvard

No longer, are we, as leaners’ subject to pass through the eye of a needle to take the first steps towards wisdom. No longer, are we, as learners’ bound by time or space to gather information, dissect it, test it, and even apply it. Higher learning is evolving, literary, right before our eyes, and our own Harvard Yard is in our hands!
With the dawn of new technology, the internet, Wi-Fi (wireless local area networks), and mobile computing, has emerged the Information Age—a new era in commerce and education that is driven by the information and knowledge that is now at our finger tips. With each new iteration of computing devices, we are rapidly evolving the way we work and play—the way we learn.
However, translating information and knowledge into wisdom remains the essence of the challenge offered over Dexter Gate. While we now have that information readily available to us, and a host of ways to apply that information, there still remains a great task at hand. The same task that inspired John Harvard to donate a large sum of money to Newtowne College (later named Harvard College)—the desire to “advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity.”
When leaving the campus into the streets of Cambridge, I made my way back to Dexter Gate. And this time, looking out toward the city, was this inscription,

Depart to Serve

Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind.

And so it remains, at this cross roads of the classic and the contemporary, it requires action to advance learning into posterity. Higher learning is not about ascending up a mythological mount, it is about going out and into the world to apply what we have learned at our own personal Harvard Yard. We do not remember all of the great people who attended Harvard for entering into a campus or buildings; but rather, we remember them for what they were able to achieve after they passed back through the eye of the needle and into the world, apply what they learned in the buildings surrounding Harvard Yard.
Today, we have that same opportunity, without the need to depart; because we are already there. The wisdom is within us, and it is all about us, and we are always ready to serve thy kind.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Learning Media Consulting Associate at The Ken Blanchard Companies in San Diego, CA, and is the Co-author of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a virtual learning programmed designed to help individuals develop personal strengths while collaborating with others for success.

Aiming For the Stars (Literally) With Goal Setting

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:00:55 +0000

I’ll admit it: I’m a bit of a nerd. I enjoy technology, science, and astronomy (or anything space-related). On October 8^th, Christmas comes early for me as I’ll be getting a mix of all three. In case you haven’t heard, Felix Baumgartner will attempt the highest skydive to-date from the edge of space, 23 miles above Earth’s surface. This follows two successful test jumps from approximately 13.5 miles and 18 miles up from earlier this year.
You might be thinking Felix is a little (or extremely) crazy. After all, the dangers he faces are very real. He has to worry about the typical issues of halo jumping such as the lack of oxygen or possible parachute problems. At that altitude, the air is so thin that it’s near-impossible to steady yourself in the initial freefall. Joseph Kittinger, the current record holder for the highest freefall at 19 miles from 1960, lost pressure in one of his gloves during his record-breaking descent, and his hand swelled up to twice its normal size. Felix also has the added challenge of becoming the first human to break the sound barrier with just his body. Even though he will be wearing a special suit designed by NASA engineers, some of the effects are unknown in terms of what will happen to his body once he breaks that barrier.
If Felix succeeds, not only will he have helped NASA study the effects of this freefall for future emergency low-orbit bailout systems, but he will have pushed the bar even higher in terms of what the human race is capable of. These types of record-breaking events don’t come that often, so it’s great to see someone facing a challenge of this magnitude.
After thinking about how far Felix has come, I’ve thought about his overall goal and how’s he’s reached this point. While he may have not been thinking about this acronym, he did set a SMART goal for himself:
S – Specific and measurable: If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. – Felix set a goal to be the first individual to jump from 120,000 feet above Earth’s surface.
M – Motivating: What’s in it for the person? – If Felix succeeds, not only will he have the glory of holding this record, he will be helping in advancing future space travel safety. He’ll also have the wildest ride of his life.
A – Attainable: If people think they can’t, they give up at the start. – Felix wouldn’t be getting ready for this jump if he thought he couldn’t do it. I’m sure being a bit of an adrenaline junky helps.
R – Relevant: Why bother if it won’t make a difference? – This jump is another step forward in us becoming masters of our universe. The data collected from this jump will make an impact on future space exploration.
T – Trackable: How will you know if you’re making progress? – He’s already completed two tests from staggering heights. The space capsule, the suit, and even himself have all been tested in preparation for the final freefall.
Sometimes, when we create goals for ourselves or others, we don’t think about the factors that make up a SMART goal. If we can’t satisfy one or more of those factors, we may never achieve those goals. If Felix’s original goal wound up being slightly different and didn’t meet one of those requirements, we might not be waiting in anticipation for October 8^th.
I’ve included videos Red Bull released from the two test flights. While they don’t have shots of the actual freefalls (I’m sure Red Bull is saving that for the actual 23-mile decent), both contain some pretty amazing shots from the upper atmosphere:

Keep an eye out on the news following October 8^th. The video will likely be amazing knowing Red Bull.
This blogger is rooting for you, Felix!
As always, be sure to leave your comments!

Excellence in Action

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:00:56 +0000

*Part Two of a Six Part Series on The Excellent Employee

“Can you hear me when I sing?

You’re the reason why I sing …

You’re the reason the opera is inside of me!”

—Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own, U2

Nike’s Find Your Greatness Campaign

Consider the summer blockbusters at the movie theater or Nike’s latest add campaign during the Summer Olympics. The movies we watch, and sometimes, even the shoes we buy, reveal this appetite for greatness. At times, we vicariously live through others who do what we wish for ourselves: superheroes fighting villains, sports champions, ordinary people overcoming impossible circumstances, and others achieving glory in extraordinary moments of greatness.
We are drawn to greatness because the desire for greatness is within us! The pursuit of excellence is as natural a human desire as love and hope and a desire for peace.
Our human nature is manifest in both our desire for a greater goodness in the world as well as the capacity to possess that goodness within ourselves—in our relationships, our work, our communities, and our own personal satisfaction in being alive.
Our greatness is not meant to be merely potential greatness, like the notched arrow in the potential energy found in the archer’s arm and the bent limbs of the bow when the string is drawn tight. Our greatness is meant to be released into motion, like the arrow that is released from the bow and swiftly, efficiently, travels toward its target with power, becoming kinetic energy that makes an impact and serves its purpose.

Release Your Greatness

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he argued that the end purpose to life, what every human truly desires, is to pursue excellence or greatness that leads to happiness and joy. In fact, Aristotle went further than saying humans simply desire this greatness, they are naturally inclined to hope for it, dream of it, and ultimately pursue it. Humans can’t do otherwise.
So then, why doesn’t everyone achieve greatness or happiness? In fact, the sad reality is that many people become disillusioned about their own greatness. They suffer set backs and failures, develop insecurities, and believe in assumptions that constrain them from excelling. They stop learning when the learning becomes difficult. This happens in people’s personal and professional lives and it’s a human tragedy, because they’ve lost their voice—their sense of purpose.
Others pursue something they think will bring them happiness, without the intimacy and moral compass that excellence requires. They pursue money or status, and use relationships or projects to elevate their own needs above the needs of others. They lose a sense of self-reliance and self-worth, ignoring the desire that beckons them to be great. They forfeit their own personal greatness and become dependent on others to create greatness for them.
In one case, people give up. In the other, they pursue the wrong things. In both, they fail to achieve excellence.
In order for greatness to be actualized, it must be released in individuals and organizations for a greater good. We are meant to train, be disciplined, gain more knowledge, and learn new skills in order to use our greatness in the most excellent way possible, given the reach of our experiences and opportunities—excellence in action!
The capacity for greatness needs to be acted on if that potential is to be realized and success attained at work or in your personal life. The mergence of personal and communal greatness is created through action—the art of intentionally developing and exercising the greatness within.
Greatness is not found in a cool new product, it’s found in the process of creating a product or process or relationship that will make people’s lives better—lead them to a greater happiness—allow them to hear that opera inside of them again.
Excellence in action begins with releasing potential greatness into a targeted and focused purpose that serves and helps others become great with you. Train in certain behaviors until you build them into habits. Learn new skills until you master them. Mature through periods of disillusionment and doubt until you actually see your greatness come out moment by moment, project by project, relationship by relationship.
Jason Diamond Arnold, Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action
Todd Willer, The Ken Blanchard Companies

5 Things I Forbid You To Do This Labor Day Weekend

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 12:00:12 +0000

On Monday, we celebrate the social and economic accomplishments of the American worker. In an effort to truly honor the spirit of the holiday, here are 5 things I forbid you to do this Labor Day weekend:

Set Your Alarm Clock. Sleep in. You work hard. You deserve it.
Check Your E-Mail. Don’t worry, those “urgent” e-mails will still be there when you log in on Tuesday.
Make or Take Business Calls. Please step away from the cell phone. Turn it off or send those calls straight to voice mail. Just like your e-mail, the messages will still be there for you on Tuesday.
Engage Your Professional Social Network. I know you’re concerned about your Klout score but a couple days away shouldn’t cause any irreparable damage. Besides, we’ve got something in common with your e-mail and voice mail, we’ll also be here on Tuesday.
Neglect Your Family and/or Friends. Spend some time with those other people in your life who you don’t get the chance to see while you’re in the office.

Hope you all have a fantastic, relaxing, and disconnected three-day weekend!
Follow me on Twitter: @adammorris21 | Add me on Google+: gplus.to/AdamMorris21
(…just wait until Tuesday.)

Exploring the Hidden Secrets of Employee Engagement (pt.1)

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:00:46 +0000

As I walked out the door of our air conditioned building to go to lunch, I stepped though a stifling wall of heat that took my breath away. It was high noon and the temperature was 95 degrees farenheit…a stunning 20-25 degree difference from the comforts of my office. At that moment, I felt my energy level plummet and a number of thoughts began to run through my mind, including but not limited to, “I can’t wait to get home and put some shorts on,” and “I’d rather be at the beach or in the pool right now,” and “an ice cold beer would really hit the spot,” and “will I be able to recover and have a productive afternoon?”
In an instant, my level of engagement had been shifted by, yes, the weather. Is this example extreme? Perhaps, but is it really that far-fetched to think of a time when the weather outside affected your mood? In contrast to the previous example, a very cold day may have you daydreaming about snuggling up with your favorite blanket and sitting in front of the fireplace with your favorite book. When your mind wanders off to these places during your working hours or, in some cases, leads you to turn your daydream into reality, is that a reflection of your level of engagement and work passion?
My colleagues at The Ken Blanchard Companies have done some amazing research on the subject of employee engagement and work passion. To date, Blanchard has published four white papers on the subject which you can access by clicking here. In the latest installment, Blanchard identified 12 employee work passion factors within three different categories:

Job Factors – Autonomy, Meaninful Work, Feedback, Workload Balance, and Task Variety
Organizational Factors – Collaboration, Performance Expectations, Growth, Procedural Justice (process fairness), and Distributive Justice (rewards, pay, and benefits)
Relationship Factors – Connectedness with Colleagues and Connectedness with Leader

Without question, all of these factors are vital toward achieving an engaged and passionate workforce. What jumps out at me, and with most other’s research on the subject, is that the focus areas all tend to be very, for lack of a better word, work-centric. Whether you subscribe to the notion of work-life balance or work-life integration, my belief is that, in addition to these crucial work-centric factors, any number of outside personal factors may significantly influence an individual’s level of engagement and passion at any given time. And yes, this may even include an individual’s reaction to the weather outside.
It’s important to remember that regardless of your industry, you’re in the people business. Your colleagues and customers are human beings who are affected by other life experiences, both good and bad, besides those that occur while they’re working. We are individuals with unique needs, wants, situations, and emotions. In future posts in this series, we’ll further discuss situations and possible solutions to achieve a deeper understanding of what drives the engagement and passion of the unique individuals who make up your workforce.
Follow me on Twitter: @adammorris21 | Add me on Google+: gplus.to/AdamMorris21

The Excellent Employee

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:59:39 +0000

*Part One of a Six Part Series on The Excellent Employee
Excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. —Aristotle
Nobody willingly pays a person to be average or mediocre. Or at least, they shouldn’t! And individuals shouldn’t be content being paid to be average or mediocre either!

Imagine going into a job interview or pitching a new project with the premise of retaining an individual’s services through the commitment to a steady dose of procrastination and indifference toward key tasks and reasonabilities. It’s an absurd notion. That organization would be foolish to hire for such a promise. It would be foolish for a person to settle for being average as an employee.
So then, why do organizations hire for excellence and settle for mediocrity? Why do teams within organizations get away with doing just enough to “get the job done?” Why do so many individuals settle for coming to work and being average, at best?
While modern thinkers like Jim Collins, in Good to Great, have evolved the meaning of the word “good” to mean something less than great, ancient writers, teachers, philosophers like Aristotle defined “good” as something extraordinary – exceedingly great. The classic notion of good is manifest excellence—actively pursuing behavior that excels beyond the normal, everyday basics of our mere existence—encouraging us to thrive, rather than simply survive. The pursuit of excellence has led individuals to a greater happiness in living and working throughout history.
The Nicomachean Ethics is one of the most important books in the whole history of philosophy and certainly the most influential works of Aristotle. It is a collection of his most profound thoughts and was based on an exhortation to his son to live the best possible life.
Though taught thousands of years ago, Aristotle’s thoughts on excellence—becoming exceedingly good, still serves as a call to action for those who desire and are willing to lead themselves at a higher level. Although there are many narratives that can be culled out from Aristotle’s epic work, there are a several broad narratives that have practical application in our modern workplace.
A Greater Good
For an individual to perform exceedingly “good,” they must believe that “good” is something beyond just their own need, but also the good of the community, organization, or society they live in. According to Aristotle, excellence is a mindset rather than just a set of activities. Most activities are a means to a higher end, or at least they should be, and our work is no exception.
When individuals start showing up to work just to pull a pay check or organizations get too focused on the profit margins, they loose site of why they exist—to serve a greater good. Excellent employees focus on using their skills and knowledge to serve a purpose greater than themselves and in the process meet their basic needs while achieving excellence.
Virtue, Vision, and Values
Excellence depends on living in accordance with appropriate virtues, vision, and values. A virtuous individual is naturally inspired to behave in the right ways and for the right reasons, finding happiness in behaving according to a set of higher standards of excellence—personal standards as well as the standards expected of them by their community.
The Excellent Employee performs all of their duties with clear expectations of their role and responsibilities, in alignment with the core values of the company. Aristotle is not referring to some imaginary notion of perfection, and neither should organizations expect that of employees. But striving for higher levels of behavioral excellence, creating a greater value in products and projects, should be the goal of every employee.
Know Thyself
The phrase, Know Thyself was inscribed above the entrance to the Lyceum that Aristotle attended as a young man in Athens. Most historians attribute the phrase as an admonition to those entering the sacred temple to remember or know their place before entering into the learning process. Modern philosophies and leadership theories have expanded the notion of self awareness as a means to become more in tune with one’s own personal strengths and weaknesses, beliefs and behaviors.
Excellent employees are committed to knowing themselves through a daily process of understanding the vision and values of the organization, and then aligning them with their own Key Areas of Responsibility. They are also keenly aware of their own assumptions about the organization or a project that may be holding them back. They are aware of where they are at in their own learning process, and what they need from others to successfully complete their daily tasks. Most individuals struggle to move beyond periods of disillusionment and conflict, settling for something less than exceedingly good. The Excellent Employee is equipped to understand their own needs and move through those periods of doubt and disillusionment efficiently and effectively.
Relationships
Aristotle believed that the bonds that tie citizens together are so important that it would be unthinkable to suggest that true happiness can be found in a life isolated from others. This understanding applies to the modern workplace as well. But excellent employees aren’t just good at building effective social and professional networks on Facebook and Linked In, they are dedicated to building intimate and meaningful relationships through personal one on one communication. They’re also aware of the fact that there are more ways to getting a job done by gaining the support of people in positions of power, but rather influencing peers and colleagues through other types of personal power in order to meet the needs of the greater good and do an exceedingly good work.
Action
Aristotle did not think that virtue could be taught in a classroom down at the local Lyceum or simply by means of a “good” argument, but rather by applying virtue and values to your daily actions. His claim that virtue can be learned only through constant practice implies that there are no set rules we can learn from in just a workbook or a presentation alone; rather we must find a means of transferring that knowledge into action. The Excellent Employee is committed to training in the skills sets that will help them excel beyond average. They are consumed with creating solutions and meaningful results, rather than wallowing in the challenges, setbacks, and conflicts that arise in the workplace.
Become Excellent
The Excellent Employee has a strategy to consistently align their vision and values to the organization’s vision and values, through a clear understanding of themselves and their needs. They also utilize key relationships and apply their knowledge and skills to their everyday workflow, aligning it with the greater good of their company and their clients.
Life is short. Be activly committed to living and working at a higher level, for yourself and the greater good. Aristotle would challenge today’s modern employee to become excellent by doing excellent acts.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

Unlocking That New Leadership Confidence

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:00:38 +0000

The time has come! You’ve been a rock star at your job and management has been watching you for some time. The decision has been made to promote you into a management role. You’re feeling like the big man/woman on campus. However, you start to realize that the type of work you’re doing has changed. You’re no longer feeling like you can do your job in your sleep. That rock star confidence you had no longer exists. What now?
Becoming a new leader can certainly be intimidating. Besides the normal “work”, you also now have to support the people you lead. Others are looking to you to have all the answers. Plus, dealing with tasks and working with individual behavior are two separate things. Don’t forget about the issues people face in their personal lives that affect them in the work environment.
Let’s start with the basics: Most people understand that confidence comes with practice. With enough practice, the confidence will naturally increase over time as you do more of what you’re learning. This, however, does not apply to all situations. Being in a management role, you are likely going to encounter various situations during your career that you’ve never faced before.
Even for those who are not technically in management, most work in a variety of jobs where they are faced with new challenges on a regular basis.
I was faced with my own personal challenge recently where I had to speak at a company meeting. I am used to speaking to groups of individuals in virtual environments, but not so much in face-to-face situations. Even though it seemed to go well, I was still extremely nervous the entire time I was in front everyone. After all, no one wants to look like a fool in front of their colleagues.
I had a big “Aha!” moment shortly after that meeting. Thanks to a posting over at Great Smitten, I realized that everyone is figuring things out as go, just as I am.
No single individual has all the answers. As Diane mentions in her post, everyone is “faking it”. More importantly, she mentions that once you understand this, you no longer need to fake it, yourself, because you know you don’t know everything, and that’s ok.
I look at this as a hidden piece of the puzzle when it comes to unlocking confidence. Yes, practicing what you’re learning is still what will ultimately lead to the highest level of confidence over time. Yet, for those just learning something for the first time, coming to this realization will help alleviate the fear that fills in the void when confidence is not present.
If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend taking a looking at Diane’s posting. It had a profound impact on me, and I hope it will do the same for you.
Leave your comments!

Lead UP!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:00:13 +0000

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same…

—If by Rudyard Kipling
Work is hard! If it’s not, you’re probably not working hard enough. Every good employee who pushes to higher levels of success goes through major challenges in the pursuit of worthwhile work. There are dreams and shattered dreams, hopes and hopes deferred, projects launched and projects crashed. The one easy certainty in today’s workplace is that nothing is certainly easy.

Lead Up

Compound that challenge if you’re an individual contributor with little to no decision making authority—no corner office, no big budget to use at your discretion, no direct reports to delegate to. Yet deep inside every good organization are good individuals who rise up to meet these challenges, greeting the impostors of triumph and disaster with equal tenacity.
In fact it is here, in the process of leading oneself through the pitfalls, set backs, and politics of the workplace that great leaders are born. Tomorrow’s great leaders are born out of today’s challenges, victories and defeats, on the front lines of organizations all around the world. They are the individuals that Lead Up when the going gets tough, rising above to meet the vision and values of an organization, by influencing others, without decision making authority, through effective habits and skill sets.
Four Basic Skill Sets to Lead Up
Every effective individual within an organization shares some common habits or traits that make them successful. There are four basic skill sets for individuals to engage in regularly, in order to effectively Lead Up within an organization.
Be Responsible
Excellence begins with understanding what is within your realm of capabilities, experiences, knowledge, and skill. Continually defining, refining, and reviewing Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) is the first step to meeting daily and weekly challenges at work. Getting agreement on your job description with your manager and members of your team will ensure clear understanding and expectations of your role, as well as help you define your day-to-day priorities.
Be Aware
Everyone goes through learning curves at work. Each new project, goal, or task produces a whole new set of variables. Knowing who you are and where you’re at on the learning curve of any given goal or task will help you understand where you are going. Managers and other colleagues aren’t mind readers—they usually don’t know what you need to get the job done successfully. That’s why being aware of your own needs by assessing where you’re at in the learning process is a vital skill in Leading Up successfully.
Be Proactive
Once you know where you’re at, you have a better idea where to go to get the direction or support you need to successfully negotiate the gauntlet of daily challenges. Ironically, being proactive in seeking the right type of leadership you need, makes it easier to work with you. Proactively seeking out the leadership style you need, rather than reactively waiting for someone to give it to you, creates stronger relationships with your manager and other colleagues.
Be Accountable
Even the most successful individuals need to continually be held accountable to something higher than themselves. Accountability works best when you as an individual take the initiative to Lead Up by having consistent and effective One on One Meetings with your manager. Consistently scheduling and conducting short, half hour, meetings not only keeps you and your manager on the same page, it creates an intimate opportunity to communicate your development levels on critical goals, tasks, and skills—ensuring that you receive the right type leadership to help you achieve excellence at work.
People don’t wake up Excellent—it takes hard work and consistent routine. The Four Basic Skill sets to Lead Up at work should be a part of your daily and weekly routine! The effort is minimal, but the reward is exponential. When you’re ready to Be Responsible, Be Aware, Be Proactive, and Be Accountable—you’re ready to excel to higher levels of meaningful work and satisfaction in a job well done.
The world needs effective leadership, and you need to Lead Up, by beginning with the most obvious source of leadership—Yourself.

Jason Diamond Arnold

Consulting Associate, The Ken Blanchard Companies

Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

Make YOUR Living

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:52:10 +0000

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” –Henry David Thoreau
As the plane sat at the gate, making final preparations for take off, I gazed out the window, watching two ground crew members, tramping around in the muddy slush, loading up the last pieces of luggage. They looked busy. They looked focused. They looked determined.

Mud Time

As my thoughts turned toward home, the fascination with the two workers below was interrupted with a sudden, “You from Boston?”
I turned to the man next to me and chuckled, reveling to him my New York Yankees jacket, “No, just visiting.”
As fate would have it, he wasn’t content to leave it at that. “Ahhh! Business or pleasure?”
Perhaps he was a little concerned as to the cause of my red eyes and rather weary appearance—little knowing that I had just spent the past several days in a New Hampshire cabin with no running water. Or maybe it was just one of those rare occasions when I looked a little more vulnerable than my usual, leave me alone, I’ve been on a long journey, traveler look—still a glow from all of my recent discoveries within the ancient American region of New England.
I carefully guarded my growing suspicion over his line of questions with as few words as possible, “A little bit of both.”
He seemed to ponder the response, then fell silent for a moment. I could sense he was on the edge of leaving me alone—finally! Thankfully… he gave it one last shot.
“How do you make your living?” The hook slipped into my conscious with the precession of a Wicked Tuna fisherman out of Gloucester Harbor that had finally snagged the big one.
We’ve heard the question a thousand times, on a thousand trips around the world, when getting to know a stranger, in some strange place. But this time, it wasn’t a strange question. This time the question penetrated my very being and challenged me to give the curious lad a meaningful and well thought out answer.
Perhaps it was symptomatic of my natural buzz from the lack of sleep? Nay, I knew it was more than that; it was something lurking in the salty philosophic Atlantic air that whispers through the timeless picturesque scenery North of Boston—the same whispers that spoke to some of America’s most profound writers, like Frost, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Alcott, and Eliot, while they tried to answer questions about life and death and time, and all things concerning the affairs of our daily busyness…and business.
How do you make your living?
It was the very question that had been haunting me the entire trip, with each log I split, in every step taken on a hike to some small peek overlooking the New England landscape, every snowflake that sung to me on it’s decent to the frozen forest floor. In fact, it has been haunting me the past couple of years of my career—the so-called Prime Earning Years between the ages of 30 and 50 years of age. That age when family responsibilities and economic recessions catch up with the hopes and dreams of what you thought you could become through your career. That age when we struggle to make our living, rather than allow our living to make us, through a rhythm and routine that wears us down like the mountain steam does to the rock when no one is looking.
What is a living, anyway? And how does one go about “making it?”
Making a living isn’t about a paycheck—it is not your job! If we try to answer that question by simply explaining what we do to make money, than somehow we’ve reduced the meaning of how we spend the majority of our days. Our work needs to be much more than just a how we make money; it must be about the purpose or cause we serve through our efforts at work—making other people’s lives more productive and enriching because of what we do—while also serving as a means to providing quality choices for the things that we cherish the most.
Where are you in relation to where you want to be in your career—in your life?

Circles of Work and Play

Maybe you don’t currently do what you love to do. Maybe your current job or project is not what you dreamed of doing when you were off earning degrees at the University or working for that revolutionary start up company when you first entered the workplace. But if you don’t believe that there is a higher purpose or meaning in the work you do, then you’re in danger of slipping into what Thoreau warned as, “quiet desperation.” If the gap between work and play is so wide that you can’t wait to get to the weekend so you can do what you really love to do, then it’s time to look in the mirror and ask the question, “How do YOU make YOUR living?”
To make a living requires a continual renewal of spirit and perspective that pulls all of our hopes and dreams, experiences, responsibilities—our living, into a larger, more integrated and meaningful context. It takes effort to align the things we love, and are passionate about, with what we call work. And yet, it is as simple as splitting wood this side of winter, on a spring day, in late April or early May—just for the pleasure of it.
As the plane began it’s decent, nearly four hours later, into San Diego, California, my new best friend and I had thoroughly investigated how we make our living. Just after the plane touched down in a land far from those ancient poets gravesites, I shared with him a few words I had just found, inside the wood I was splitting, just North of Boston. Words…that are there with you too, right now, on your computer’s keyboard, in the pen on your desk, in the code you punch in to enter your office, or the clock you punch your card into, or on the palm of the handshake you’ll receive at next Tuesday’s Business meeting. And those words are whispering to you:
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future’s sakes.

–Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time

About the Author: Jason Diamond Arnold is a Consulting Associate with The Ken Blanchard Companies, and Co-Author of Situational Self Leaderhip in Action

Complacency Kills

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:42:32 +0000

You’ve just started learning a new skill and you think to yourself “It is really going to take me a long time to learn this.” You want to become an expert in as little time as possible, but you know you have a lot of hurdles to overcome before you can truly call yourself an “expert”. Yet, you persevere through the mental anguish that comes with comprehending what you’re learning. You practice what you learn, and overtime, it becomes second nature. You become satisfied with the way you do you work and put yourself on autopilot, and that’s when you lose your focus. At this point is when you find yourself in trouble.
Why might this be an issue? After all, most employers want you to be able to do your job as efficiently as possible. If completing your tasks requires little effort on your part because you’ve practiced them so much, you should be able to complete more work than if you were just learning how to do it for the first time, right? While that may hold true, you also lose your focus as these tasks start becoming automated by you. When you lose your focus, you start making mistakes.
I mentioned in a previous post that I was in the process of bringing a motorcycle back from the dead. While I’m happy to say that my motorcycle is now ridable, I still have a ways to go until it’s perfected. Just the other day, I had removed the carburetors, something I’ve done at least 20-25 times, previously. I was on autopilot while I was doing the work. After I reinstalled the carburetors, the bike did not want to start. I looked over on my workbench to see a part from the carburetor sitting there which I happened to forget to reinstall. Again, mistakes happen when you aren’t truly focusing on your work and instead just “going through the motions”.
The same goes for processes and policies we put in place in our work environments. While we have procedures for a reason, we always need to be flexible and look at new ways of doing things. For example, look at Kodak’s recent decision to stop producing digital cameras/pocket video cameras. This was a market that Kodak helped to invent. However, they became complacent and let the cell phone makers take over the digital photography realm for all of the non-professional photographers out there (myself, included). This was a company who brought the human race the first up-close images of the moon with all of its splendor.
Let’s also look at the emotional aspects. Think about a job you held in the past where you became complacent. How much satisfaction did you get from your job? When you came in for work, did you think about how much good you could do, or would you instead stare at the clock waiting for your shift to end?
The point is that we always need to breathe new life into ourselves and our work. It’s when we become complacent that we lose sight of what’s important, along with our competitors passing us by.
For final inspiration this week and to further my point, I leave you with a video of Bryson Andres, a young musician from Alaska. He has made quite a name for himself on YouTube where you can find various videos of him performing on downtown streets around the country. His instrument of choice is an electric violin. I know this might not sound appealing to most (especially if you are not into classical music), but I promise you, you’re in for a new experience. Not only is Bryson a talented musician, but he performs with an instrument in a way that I’m sure most of us have never seen before. At the very least, I’m sure you’ll be in a good mood after watching this:

Leave your comments!

App Yourself—Welcome to The Age of AppLightenment

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:29 +0000

“Now!”, thus spoke a good App to me,
“Click on my icon and you shall see,
treasures of knowlendge and wisdom so fine,
to help you make the most of the daily grind,
Excellence, you may claim, if but you will,
open me up and take your fill!”
App Yourself, by J. Diamond Arnold (A Paradoy of A Book, by Edgar Guest)
I am haunted by memories of long nights at the kitchen table, hot tears streaming down my face, trying to learn the rules of operations and relations within mathematical philosophies—frustrated at my inability to easily embrace the new concepts, but even more frustrated in trying to comprehend how I would ever apply those concepts to my life.

Maddness of Math

After all, that is the purpose of our education—our learning experiences—applying those learnings to our lives. Isn’t it?
To this day, those tears still burn at the thought of nights past, bleeding into present, evoked at the site of my own teenage daughter, sitting at the same table, laboring through the same equations and wrestling with the same questions about the purpose of learning Algebra, wondering if she will ever actually use this skill in her lifetime.

What is the Meaning

Those memories did not fade, but have been rekindled through similar angst during my days in the halls of academia, on the campus of the university, and recently in the corporate classrooms of my professional career. The thirst for learning and knowledge has often been but a mirage in deserts of secrets, seminars, and semesters—promising a path to enlightenment and understanding—only to leave me mysteriously cold and hungry, crawling on my hands and knees in search of a means to turn my potential knowledge into kinetic understanding and action.
The art of applying our learning to our daily tasks, projects, quests, and routines has always been a Valley of the Shadow between knowing and doing, excellence and mediocrity, success and status quo. The challenge has been, and will always be judged by our ability to use those learnings in our daily lives on a consistent and effective basis, not to shelve them on the dusty mantles of our lives, virtually untouched and largely unexplored.
The good news is that our generation now has the key to continual and effective learning—literally, right at our fingertips. Welcome to The Revolution of Digital Apps! Welcome to the Age of AppLightenment!

Mobile ApplicationsWhile Merriam-Webster Dictionary does not yet have an official entry on the word, “App,” their little brother (or Big Brother depending on how you want to put it into context), Wikipedia, defines it as a, “common reference to Application Software, made for computers and mobile devices such as Smart Phones and Digital Tablets.”

What is relevant to understanding the power that Apps have on the learning process is the Merriam-Webster’s (App version, of course) is the definition of the traditional word, Application—an act of putting to use .
Off course Apps are not new, they have been on your personal computer, running word processing and database software, or digital communication tools, for many years as Applications. What is new, is the explosion of practical and creative Apps designed to make your life more effective, more fun, more engaging, and yes, many will make you even more enlightened.
It’s estimated that one in three adults in the U.S. alone, own a smart phone that makes use of Apps. This past December, Apple announced that there are now more than half a million Applications available in the mobile applications-specific App Store, and that more than 100 million Apps have been downloaded from the desktop software marketplace Mac App Store within a year of its debut. Apple says that customers are ‘continuing’ to download more than 1 billion Apps per month.

Mac App Store

Regardless of whether you are downloading your Apps from Apple, Google, Amazon, or other App Stores, Apps are becoming a way of life. From banking, to budgeting, to hitting a baseball, making dinner, enhancing your workouts, your business, or your personal relationships, Apps are intuitively driving us to transfer our knowing into doing—helping us effectively engage and complete our daily professional and personal tasks.
The reality is we are in the midst of The Age of AppLightenment—A Digital Enlightenment era sparked by philosophical entrepreneurs named Jobs and Gates, and Zuckerberg and Wales—inciting a cultural movement toward digital mobilized learning and learning applications. Not since the mid-1400s, around the time the printing press was invented, has the world experienced such rapid and mass access to information— information that now can be rapidly processed into knowledge, and knowledge into doing, through the use of Apps.
This is our moment in world history to embrace, taking knowledge and taking action through simple and effective application to our lives. It’s time get up from the table and wipe away the tears. It’s time to App Yourself!
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

The Awkward Phase

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:02:35 +0000

At some point as a little girl, probably around the age of seven or eight, I decided it was perfectly normal to tell people I was going through my “awkward phase.” It is that inevitable phase in our youth perhaps many of you experienced, where you’re in between sizes, your teeth haven’t decided which way they want to go, and there is no guarantee that your foot will actually make contact with the ball during a routine game of soccer. I’m sure I picked up the funny saying from my dear mother and father, thinking it was simply a matter of fact to be shared with others. While I laugh about this now, it does remind me of another life stage that we go through, worthy of a similar name: our 20’s.
What an awkward phase this can be! After nearly two decades of school, all structure is lost. We graduate from college and our world suddenly opens up. The paradigms we have accepted and mastered are no longer relevant. We begin to question what’s next, and realize both the power and the trepidation behind this overwhelming notion. It is yet another “in between” stage where we must make the leap from being handed a path to carving our own. We must face the often harsh reality that is the real world without ever having been taught how to do so, and become the “leaders of tomorrow” with zero direction for perhaps the first time in our lives.
Yet we must not lose hope! Professionally, our 20’s can be a roller coaster of soul-searching, excitement, growth, insecurity, setbacks, confusion – you name it. But whether we are ready or not, we are the next generation of leaders. While I am by no means an expert in this area (and, truthfully, am still living it!) this unique journey has taught me to remember three things in particular:
1. Seek work with meaning and purpose: Find something you believe in, something you can be proud of. Tap into the intrinsic motivators in your life. Go beyond the extrinsic; paychecks and perks will only provide so much satisfaction. We will spend at least a third of our lives in the workplace, so search for something that brings meaning to you – a place where you feel you are making a positive difference in the world.
2. Never stop learning: Be inquisitive. Meet new people – people different from yourself. Seek mentors. Ask questions, even dumb ones! Don’t feign competence where it doesn’t exist – be coachable and soak up as much as you can from those who have gone before you. A lack of knowledge is not a weakness – it is an opportunity to grow.
3. Be patient and give yourself grace: None of us will rise to the top and “have it all figured out” by 30. In fact, we will never reach that point. Our careers are not a destination, but a journey – an adventure. Like the rest of life, our 20’s help to create our story. Patience and grace through our high highs and low lows generate an authenticity that will make us more effective down the road.
These are just a few of the lessons I have learned along the way… What are yours?
Thanks for sharing!
Comments

A Thousand Days—Celebrating Life!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:14:23 +0000

Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day!
—Abraham Lincoln
Today, I celebrate the 15,000th day since my birth. Yes, I will indeed celebrate it! To live just one day is an amazing adventure; to live a thousand of them many times over is a wonderful mystery that should be held with the highest adoration and gratitude.

Grains of Time

It has become a tradition in our household, to not only celebrate the anniversary of the day of our day of birth, each year, with candles and cakes, but also celebrate a thousand day period of our life we are celebrating—another Hallmark moment!
Nikki McClure, designed a baby journal, The First Thousand Days. In it, she structures the journal entries to record key moments of a child’s first thousand days, from the birth story, to the first yawn, first steps, first words—documenting significant moments that happen during the course of the first thousand day period of a baby’s life.
If the passing of a year is significant (and it is), then so should be the living of a thousand days in a person’s life. Think of all the things you have discovered, learned, experienced in the past one thousand days of your life. You’ve most likely made more significant advances in a thousand days than you are able to achieve in one year of your life, and that is a major cause to reflect and celebrate.
To mark your life by days, not just by years, is a unique approach to framing the meaning of those days—filling each one of them with purpose, gratitude and a worthy effort. Marking a thousand of those days is an important reminder of how precious every day is. The fact is, we’ve been blessed to experience some good days, some great days, and others we perhaps like to forget; but let none of them be indifferent days.
As you reflect on the past year, these last few days of 2011, take a moment to look back on the past thousand days as well. While charting out your resolutions and goals for 2012, consider what the next one thousand days of your life might have in store for you too. You may even find an extra one, here and there, waiting to be filled up with something extraordinary.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action
***To find out how many days you’ve lived, visit the Time and Date website and use the Date to Date Calculator.

The Hero’s Journey—Applying the Epic to Your Career

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:59:35 +0000

Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
of that man skilled in all ways of contending,
the wanderer, harried for years on end,
after he plundered the stronghold
on the proud height of Troy. —The Odyessy, by Homer
Your career is an epic journey! Or, at least, it should be—something that Homer or Isaacson would muse about over pages of poetry and prose. Unfortunately, too many careers seem to be cut adrift, floating across an open sea without direction or purpose. Too many are a flat line rather than a brilliant arc that follows the blueprint of classic heroes leaving the comforts of home and launching into an adventure of challenge and triumph, where they discover their true identity and leave an indelible legacy for future generations to glean from.

The Epic Career

How do we get to a point of letting go of the helm and allowing time and tide of circumstance roll across the bows of our careers, pushing us into the inglorious unknown? We don’t graduate from high school or college and expect to drift aimlessly through the next 40 to 60 years of our work life. We push off the shores of our young adulthood, eager to make an impact on the world and sufficiently pay our bills in the process.
But very few decide how they are going to effectively manage that journey through the various phases and chapters of their career. Very few have a plan—a GPS- activated map on how they will navigate their glorious journey.
In the early stages of our career, we are largely in exploration mode. We ask, “Who am I?” (A question you should never stop asking throughout your career.) We explore who we might want to be and begin to discover how our passions can align with the work we do. At this early stage of a career, individuals need fundamental coping skills gained through learning tools, techniques, and experiences—skills that cannot be taught in the halls of academe, but only in the process of executing our day-to-day tasks.
Then, as we reach our late twenties and early thirties, what becomes really important is practice management—management of self and others. Leadership! This is the stage where we should begin to make those early dreams come to life. It also becomes the time where we begin to face the conflict and challenges of a dangerous and exciting workplace.
However, just like practical basic skill sets can’t be taught in a classroom, the skill set of practice management can’t be learned at the University, only taught in theory. The skills need to be applied to our day-to-day experiences at work to be truly learned. In fact, how we become better contributors to our work is not often even taught within the organizations we work for. We are typically left on our own to figure out how to navigate through the stormy waters that threaten to make our careers irrelevant. We are vulnerable to the prevailing winds of the economy, internal power struggles, politics, and even worse—we are vulnerable to becoming so disillusioned that we slip into a state of indifference. Instead of thriving, as we once dreamed we could, we become content with just surviving on the open sea.
Why do we stop learning during the most critical stages of our career? I don’t mean simply going back to school (a noble endeavor), but rather the practical application of new skills to the work we are doing today? So often we give up on learning the critical skills that can help us master the work we are currently engaged in—skills and tools that could help us navigate the perils and storms of our career—moving us from simply surviving into Herculean thriving.
The journey is taking place now! What are you doing to help write your epic masterpiece?
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

Tim Tebow, Natural Born Leader?

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:00:49 +0000

We’re roughly halfway through the NFL season. And while there have been many intriguing storylines, perhaps the most compelling subject has been the current starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow. The cultural phenomenon known as Tebowmania can be traced back to Tebow’s days as quarterback of the Florida Gators where he became the first college softmore in history to win the Heisman Trophy and led the team to two national championships in three years. Yet, intense discussion and debate surrounding Tebow has continued at a fever pitch since his controversial selection in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. His detractors say that he doesn’t possess the necessary technique and skill-set to be an effective quarterback in the NFL. His proponents say that he possesses an ideal set of intangibles, that he’s a winner, and routinely refer to him as a natural born leader.
That last description really intrigues me. Can someone truly be a natural born leader? What does it mean to be a natural born leader? Generally speaking, people are not natural born leaders. However, people can be born into a situation that supports their growth and development of leadership qualities. I would venture to say that Tebow’s background and upbringing provided a healthy environment that fostered the development of his leadership qualities. He wasn’t born to be a leader but he was raised in an environment that allowed for him to become one.
To his credit, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone question Tebow’s character or leadership abilities. ESPN analyst Matthew Berry recently shared his experience of meeting Tebow for the first time. After a minute with Tim Tebow, Berry went from someone who didn’t care to understand Tebowmania to becoming a huge fan. In the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine, columnist Tim Keown describes how Tebow deftly managed a public appearance that impressed and delighted all in attendance. And teammates such as Andre Goodman are saying things like, “Tim has a presence about him that I’ve never been around before. I’ve played with some Hall of Fame players before that weren’t close to the aura that this guy has.”
Each of these examples support the belief that Tebow possesses a high quality leadership skill set. Though as mentioned earlier, he does have doubters. And while they don’t question his ability to lead people, they do question his individual performance. They say his athletic skill set was a perfect match to the system used in college against inferior competition but in the NFL, the systems used are typically more complex and the athletes are all world-class. To date, his individual performances have been, to put it kindly, a mixed bag. And after his latest sub-par performance, his coach would only commit to keeping Tebow as his starting quarterback “for this week.”
This serves as a reminder that it’s not enough to have great character and leadership skills. Those serve as a great foundation and significantly contribute to one’s ability to do great things. However, leadership is about more than getting great results from those you lead. You must also be able to deliver results on the specific responsibilities that you are required to perform. The ability to inspire others and achieve results cannot be understated. If one or both are lacking, things can go downhill in a hurry…just ask the Indianapolis Colts.
For at least another week it’s still Tebow Time. What leadership lessons or observations have become apparent to you while looking through the lens of Tebow’s young career?
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Leadership Lessons from the 2011 World Series

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:29:05 +0000

The drama unfolding in the 2011 World Series of Major League Baseball is nothing short of epic. The Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals have been engaged in a week long back and forth battle that I’m sure even the Greek gods would envy. Now last nights, dramatic, Game 6, instantly known as one of the most dramatic games in Series history, will ensure that the championship will be won on a final and decisive game. This Fall Classic will become an instant historical gem in the minds of baseball fans and sports enthusiastic alike.

2011 Fall Classic

And if you are willing to looking just beneath the surface of all the towel waving, paw clawing, praying hands, squirrel wearing, fanatical behavior of the massive crowds attending these games, you will find some interesting leadership lessons unfolding during this duel for the ages.
Embracing the Past
All championships are won long before they are played. The two teams gridlocked in this epic battle have been assembled by some of the brightest minds in baseball through the general management of John Mozeliak (Cardinals) and Jon Daniels (Rangers). But perhaps the brightest front office star in all of baseball is the principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers, Nolan Ryan.
Ryan is considered by many to be the greatest pitcher in baseball history, pitching a record seven no-hitters and is MLB’s All Time strikeouts leader. Having a Hall of Fame player, who was an important part of the Rangers team history, now serve in an executive capacity has produced great success on the field. Ryan’s old school, competitive attitude, has been contagious in the locker room and on the field.
Good organizations would do well by honoring past associates that served them with excellence. Founding associates of an organization not only bring an important historical perspective to the current employees of an organization, they have a lifetime of experience that may be extremely valuable in motivating the current workforce of an organization to embrace the original principles that made them great at it’s inception.
Embracing the Future (Through Technology)
One of the storylines in this World Series was the Phonegate saga of Game 5, when Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa tried calling out to the bullpen to warm up some of his key relief pitchers that were needed in the close game. La Russa asked for pitcher Jason Motte, and instead, the bullpen coach claimed that he heard, pitcher Marc Rzepczynski’s name called in by La Russa. “Can you hear me now,” became the battle cry of Game 5.
But the bigger question for baseball, and manager Tony La Russa, is the fact that there are phones from the Mid-70s in the dugouts and bullpens—even in newer ballparks like the ones in Arlington and St. Louis. Management may want to buy La Russa and the coaching staff a new Smartphone for Game 7, so that they can be on the same page. He could even use iPhone 4s Siri application to help him manage the game.
“Who should I bring into pitch next,” La Russa could ask Siri. “Based on the next three hitters in the Rangers line up,” she would respond in her robotic tone, “I suggest you go with the Lefty, Arthur Rhodes.” And then she would ask, “Would you like me to place a call or text your Bullpen Coach, Derek Lilliquist?”
Organizations need to embrace technology. Not just recognizing that there are certain trends you need to be aware of, but a systematic strategy to integrate new technologies into the way you do business. Your clients and Raving Fans need to trust you’re delivering service and products in the best and most effective means to meet the current needs of the people using those products and services.
Living in the Moment
After the rainout of Game 6 on Wednesday evening in St. Louis, many members of the press were asking Manager Ron Washington whom he would start in Game 7 of the World Series if the Rangers were forced to play a final game. The question itself was very odd, considering the fact that Game 6 had not even been played yet, and many people were thinking ahead to Game 7. But what’s even stranger is that Washington engaged the question by saying, “It’s Harry’s game. I’m going to stay consistent. That’s Harry’s game. Matt Harrison earned it.”
It’s hard to imagine that a manager could get sucked into answering questions about a game that would not happen if they went out and won Game 6. The right answer should have been, “I’m not thinking at all about a Game 7. Our focus is going out there and winning Game 6 and bringing a championship back to Texas.”
Good leaders honor the past, plan for the future, but are focused on seizing the moment. The moment an organization takes their eye off of the ball it affords opportunity to make little mistakes. A fundamental characteristic of great leaders are their ability to get their people focused on the moment, completing the task at hand with excellence—not fretting about what tomorrow may bring.
Baseball needed a great Fall Classic and they finally got one this year. Tonight’s Game 7, no matter what the outcome, will be the final chapter of a classic duel between two classy organizations. And if you read between some of the storylines, you may just find something that can drive you and your people toward organizational and personal success.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

The Leadership Legacy of Steve Jobs

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:34:22 +0000

“Out, out, brief candle…” William Shakespeare’s, Macbeth
The news of Steve Jobs passing was like a hot branding iron, forged amidst the fire of creativity and ingenuity of the Silicon Valley at the turn of the 21st century. True to the brand he forged, the simple, yet elegant pose captured on the home page of Apple’s website, shortly after he passed, is a watermark for one of the greatest eras of progress in world history. Scribed on the image are the years 1955 and 2011, separated by a dash that perhaps, should be more aptly welded together by a bright flame that helped light a social change rivaled only the likes of The Ancient Greeks, The Renaissance, The Enlightenment, The Founding of the United States of America, and The Industrial Revolution.

The Leadership Legacy of Steve Jobs

The three characteristics of Steve Jobs leadership qualities that will most vividly exemplify his legacy are reveled in his vision for emerging technologies, his ability to collaborate with other great leaders, and his insatiable appetite for excellence.
The Visionary
Steve Jobs was first and foremost a visionary, once saying he wanted to, “put a ding in the Universe.” In 1983, Steve Jobs famously lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple’s CEO, asking, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”
It is spell binding to reflect on the vision Jobs and his team at Apple had back in the early 80’s. The release of the iPhone 4S, just one day before his passing, quietly introduced Siri, an application that allows voice dialogue with your iPhone—a vision first reveled nearly 25 years ago in a video released internally at Apple. The narrative told the story of a man interacting with a technologically advanced device, using touch screen features, video conferencing, cyber-links, and voice interaction. The projected time of the story being told in the video was during the fall of 2011—exactly the time Apple would introduce the culmination of all of these technological advances in one device, just before losing the man that willed them into being.
Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 338 U.S. patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based technologies).
More than his inventions, Jobs reminds us that great leaders don’t just announce a vision, but they live the vision—even as they pass through the shadows of death.
The Collaborator
Of course Jobs did not make this vision come to fruition all on his own—Apple itself is a company full of bright and brilliant individual contributors, complete with a world-class leadership team. Early on, Jobs reached out to others who had the skills needed to make his vision come to life, overseeing the development of the first Apple computers, to the resurrection and reinvention of Apple through iMacs, iPods, iPhones, and iPads.
“This is not a one-man show. What’s reinvigorating this company is two things: One, there’s a lot of really talented people in this company who listened to the world tell them they were losers for a couple of years, and some of them were on the verge of starting to believe it themselves. But they’re not losers. What they didn’t have was a good set of coaches, a good plan. A good senior management team. But they have that now.” [BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998]
From his relationships with Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak, businessman Ross Perot, and filmmakers George Lucas and John Lasseter, Steve Jobs surrounded himself with brilliant people in every endeavor from Apple, NeXt, to Pixar—a leadership trait that attracted other radically creative thinkers throughout these organizations who weren’t afraid to push the edge of the status quo.
The Pursuer of Excellence
Steve Jobs insisteance upon excellence in design, detail, finish, quality, ease of use, and even the delivery of products are at the core of Apple’s success. His passion for excellence was seen by many as a strength, and others, as an egotistical absurdity that, at times, damaged his ability to effectively collaborate with others.
“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]
Great leaders pursue excellence and demand it in their collaboration with others—not just in the concept, but also in the production, and ultimately the delivery. They thread excellence throughout the entire creative, technical, and delivery process.
The Leadership Legacy
While the news was not completely unexpected, it was no less sobering to endure the reality of genius that has just gone, “out, out….”
It would be easy to immortalize Steve Jobs as a prophet of epic proportions, or demonize him as imperialistic tyrant—a polarizing figure, as most revolutionaries are—but it would be a tragedy to ignore some of the lessons that Jobs’ legacy leaves with us. His achievements and larger- than- life personality will remain a smoldering remnant of his bright efforts that will surely resonate and inspire for generations to come.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action (SSLiA)

Profile in Future Leadership—The Rise of Marco Rubio

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:00:26 +0000

Like it or not, the 2012 race for President of the United States is on! No matter your political point of view, there is an air of excitement (if not at least some curiosity) to see who will rise through the ranks of their party as the nominee for President. Of course, the 2012 election will not quite be the primary Bracketology Madness we see every march in the NCAA basketball tournament. The 2008 election saw one of the most exciting presidential races in American history where a host of candidates vied to represent their political party in the national election due to the lack of an incumbent President or Vice President running for office.

Sunrise on Washington DC, courtesy of 'katieharbath'

During the span between national elections, it is interesting to scan the political landscape from a leadership perspective to see if there are any new young leaders on the rise. The thought of spotting a potential future leader of the free world before they are known on a national level is as exciting as seeing a young prospect for baseball playing in the minor leagues before he makes it big in “The Show.”
Many of us remember the energy sparked by a young State Senator from Illinois during his campaign for US Senator, highlighted by a memorable speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Only four years later, Barack Obama would become President of the United States of America. Looking back, it was fascinating to learn of the type of leadership that matured him into making successful runs at the United States Senate and eventually, the White House.
Over the past year, there has been a rising star in the Republican Party whose stock may be climbing in a similar fashion as our current POTUS, the Jr. United States Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio. Though Rubio is not making a run for President in 2012, he has positioned himself as a promising leader who has reached out to the people of Florida in one of the most unique and creative ways in recent political history.
Prior to his two years becoming Speaker of the Florida State House in 2006, Rubio traveled around the state hosting “Idearaisers” in an effort to solicit Floridians’ input on ways to strengthen Florida’s statehood. The 100 best ideas were then published in his 2006 book entitled, 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future—A Plan of Action, which served as the foundation for his two year term as the State Speaker, before being elected to the US Senate in 2010. What’s even more impressive is that the Florida House passed all 100 ideas. Fifty-seven of which were ultimately implemented into law—a powerful leadership model, driven by ideas for the people, by the people, under the innovative leadership of Rubio, and put into action!
One of the key ingredients to effective Self Leadership or Self Citizenship in any organization or community is the ability of the people to present their solutions and ideas to the leadership of that community—partnering for better performance that serves the greater good. This concept is embedded in the founding values of our nation—where We the People, strengthen our organizations, communities, nations, and world, in partnership with those who are responsible for leading.
What’s really exciting is that Marco Rubio’s Idearaisers are not only rooted in our nation’s traditions, but they are an indicator of what the future of leadership must become. In fact, leadership now, demands a willingness to involve the people they are leading through innovative ways of engaging individual contributors and citizens. Regardless of your ideologies or political worldview, creating an environment for collaboration and partnering for excellence, not only produces great results, it creates a greater freedom and accountability in the process.
Jason Diamond Arnold, Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

What's Your Sign?

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:00:25 +0000

Well, it’s September. For many, this means it’s time to prepare and plan for the big Labor Day weekend. To you, I say have fun and be safe.
For me, the arrival of September means that another birthday is near. Don’t worry, I’m not looking for gifts. No, I tell you this because being a September baby means that I am a Virgo.
For most of my life I paid very little attention to astrology. But the older I’ve grown, the more open-minded I’ve become. And the funny realization is that I REALLY am a Virgo. Seriously. If you want to know what I’m like, just go to the Virgo Wikipedia page and read the key characteristics and definitions section. I find it a bit frightening how dead-on accurate it is.
What I’m also finding is that with each year that passes, I’m getting to know and understand myself better. In years past, I might not have been able to honestly assess who I truly am or what I am truly about. For instance, when I was younger and more immature, I would embrace and embellish Virgo’s positive qualities while completely dismissing or denying the negative qualities. I could always identify my strengths but did not want to see or admit to having weaknesses.
Today? I see the value in leveraging my strengths while also being aware of my weaknesses, and seeing them as growth opportunities. For example, I openly admit and acknowledge that I am overly sensitive to criticism. And, I also openly admit and acknowledge that I am a perfectionist to a fault. That said, I am able to recognize these as areas for personal and professional development.
To be the best you possible, it’s important that you know yourself. If astrology isn’t your thing, or even if it is, there are a number of personal assessments and resources out there to further help you get to know yourself better.
So, what’s your sign? Does it accurately represent you?

Think Different—An Ode to Steve Jobs

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:09:28 +0000

Steve Jobs is the Thomas Edison of our era!
There, I said it. Now all of you Apple haters can stop reading the rest of this post and go back to texting or your version of surfing the Web in bitter disgust. Regardless, Steve Jobs is one of the most prolific visionaries of our era. His influence is cross-generational and has transcended time and space as the leader of one of the most innovative companies in American history, Apple, Inc.

Think Different, Steve Jobs

When Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of the world’s largest tech company late Wednesday, I felt compelled to offer an ode to his career—a salute to the inspiration he has been to many people over the years. But rather than make this article a cheap commercial for Apple products, we should focus on the genius behind the products—not the actual iconic imagery we think of when we think of an Apple product.
One of the most impactful quotes on my career was found within a February, 1996 Wired magazine interview with Steve Jobs. I still have the magazine in my office to this day and remember it well because I was a young dreamer living in the Silicon Valley, just starting my career during the height of the Internet revolution, when I came across this article—and the essence of what he said within that article still drives me at work to this day.
“Design is a funny word,” Jobs said. “Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.” Apple’s attention to the design of its products has been as revolutionary at the turn of the 21st century as Edison’s communications advancements were at the turn of the 20th century. Nothing short of epic!
Apple’s uncompromising pursuit of simple and effective designs of communication devices, under the visionary leadership of Steve Jobs, has transformed the computer, Internet, film, and music industries. The sleek and savvy look and feel of their products are only surpassed in their ease of use and practical application to professional and personal life. While the MacBooks, iPods, iPhones, and iPads are sexy in their look and feel, what has truly made them so successful is how they work on the inside. Simplicity, without being overly simple.
When it comes to designing ideas, stories, products, or projects you need to think different! You need to think from the inside out. You need to start with the essence of what you are trying to achieve for greater good and then add the look and feel later. If the inside of your project doesn’t work, than it won’t matter what you make it look like on the outside. Whether you’re designing a Website, creating a video, writing a book, or developing a product, how it works will ultimately determine how effective it will be.
Thank you Steve Jobs for your inspiration and unshakable will to think different. I wish you the best and lasting health in your new role as Chairman of the Board of Apple, Inc. “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

Finding Freedom in Choice

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:34:16 +0000

Summertime is finally here
That old ballpark, man, is back in gear
Out on 49
I can see the lights
School’s out and the nights roll in
Just like a long lost friend
you ain’t seen in a while
and can’t help but smile
—Kenny Chesney, Summertime

Summertime

July means freedom! Bare feet, cargo shorts, windows wide open, music cranked up, a ballgame just down the interstate, and lots of time to take life in. A host of traditional events create a lifetime of memories that roll through our minds like a cool thunderstorm brings relief to a warm summer day. It is the season for discovery and rediscovery of the things that remind us why we are alive and that life is a very special occasion.
Of course, in the United States, we recently celebrated our nation’s independence by attending county fairs, downing hot dogs and apple pie (insert your favorite summer dish), and capping the evening under a summer night sky full of colorful fireworks. In July, school is out, vacations are in, the days are long, and we find ourselves actively engaging in a host of choices on how we will spend our days.
This summer I am struck by the notion that freedom is most profoundly reflected in our ability to choose what we will do, when we want to do it, and how we will do it.
While at the county fair on the Fourth of July, I was overwhelmed at the amount of different foods one person could choose from—Turkey Legs, Frog Legs, Funnel Cake, Hot Dogs, Ice Cream, Corn on the Cob, Fried Twinkies, Fried Butter—you name it. Of course, most of these foods could be quite tasty for the moment, but may take a toll on your body for a couple of weeks. But that’s summertime! A carnival of choices!
However, not every choice is healthy or most expedient for our long-term welfare or the well-being of the people we serve on a daily basis. Freedom really isn’t free at all, and there are heavy costs associated with our ability to decide who we want to be and how we will go about living out that being. And while we have so many choices in how we spend our summer days, the quantity of our choices is overshadowed by the quality of our choices.

Flight of Freedom

This summer, at work or at play, let us consider our options thoughtfully. Let us season our decisions with wisdom and the greater good in mind. To be able to choose is a blessing; to choose well is sacred.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

For Better or For Worse

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:02:05 +0000

Being employed is a lot like being married. Just as you know when you’ve found the right partner, you know when you’ve found the right employer. And once you’ve tied the knot, you’re guaranteed to have a lot of highs, a lot of lows, and a lot of the somwhere-in-between routine. But, you’re a team now. You’re committed to each other. In good times and bad…for better or for worse.
In the beginning it’s fantastic. Your happiness is off the charts. You walk around with your chest puffed out and a big smile on your face because you have someone to love, who also loves you. You’ll do anything for them and they’ll do anything for you.
Eventually, the honeymoon ends. No problem though, you’re still happy. Just like you were yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. As your head gradually decends from the clouds, the jubilant feeling of excitement might not be as intense anymore, but the love is unchanged.
As you settle into your routine, your world is turned upside down by a big announcement. It’s a…big new client! Of course, the happiness level skyrockets once again. Then, reality sets in and you and your partner look at each other and ask, “what do we do now?” Like any other new experience the two of you encounter, you work together and figure it out. From this, your bond grows and you feel even more united than you did the day you walked down the aisle.
Your bundle of joy now becomes the center of your universe. The old routine is replaced by a new routine. Your new priority demands a lot of attention and a lot of love. You and your partner sacrifice some of the attention you give each other in order to meet and exceed the needs of the new love in your lives. As always, you still love your partner to pieces though you might not be able to express it as much as you did in the past.
Just when you feel as if you’ve found your comfort zone with the latest adjustment to your relationship, you’re faced with a new and unexpected challenge. After a long, prosperous period of growth, you’re now in the midst of an economic crisis. It causes pain, discomfort, and difficult conversations from which solutions emerge. Times are rough, yet you weather the storm because you work as a team. When the dust settles, your bond is stronger than ever.
These sorts of experiences will come and go for the rest of your lives. Highs, lows, and the somewhere-in-between routine. But through it all, you can always rely upon your love as a foundation to partner together to overcome whatever obstacles you may encounter.
(And on that note, I’d like to say to my beautiful wife, Happy Anniversary Honey! Our love and our bond has continued to grow stronger since we walked down the aisle five years ago today. We are and will forever remain a team…for better or for worse. I love you!)

Lead with Love!!

Blanchard Associate — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 02:30:49 +0000

Someone once asked Margie Blanchard to define leadership. Margie simply responded, “Leadership is Love!” It’s not about love. It’s not, kinda love. It is love. And effective leaders know this. They love their vision. They love their values. And they LOVE to serve others.
Please take a moment to view a short film I directed recently, written by Ken Blanchard and scribbed by Jeannal King, from Big Picture Solutions, Leading with Love.
http://youtu.be/5Dvhca9r754

Half-Full? Half-Empty? Half-Capacity.

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:40:40 +0000

Are you someone who sees the glass as half-full or half-empty?
I typically tend to see things for how they are instead of for how they could be…a realist, if you will. More often than not, that sort of thinking tends to get you lumped into the half-empty camp. That never seemed fair though. I am just as likely to have an optimistic outlook about something as I am to have a pessimistic outlook. It’s all about the individual situation and its unique set of circumstances. So when posed with this question now, I answer that the glass is not half-full or half-empty, the glass is at half-capacity.
On that note, I’d like to share with you an enlightening video from the RSA Animate series by the RSA. In Smile or Die, acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking.
[vodpod id=Video.3269001&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:37:09 +0000

To this day, I cannot say with any ounce of certainty exactly what it is that I want to be when I grow up. Complicating matters is that I’m thirtysomething and Married with Children (well, child). Considering that I have a family of my own, and am old enough to vividly remember when those shows were on the air, I should have this figured out by now…right?!
At various points throughout my life, I thought I had the answer. Then, for whatever reason, I’d lose interest with the idea of pursuing one career path and replace it with the newfound excitement of a different career path. This has been a continual cycle. The one constant has been that none of the things I’ve momentarily wanted to be has ever undisputedly captured my soul and staked claim to being the one.
What would the one look like? In my mind there has always been three key criteria that would need to be met:

Am I passionate about the work? I need to do something I truly believe in and something that I truly enjoy doing.
Is the passion sustainable? I need to be confident that I’ll feel that same level of belief and enjoyment over the long haul.
Will it provide financial security? I need to make enough money that I won’t have to worry about money.

That’s it. Three not-so-simple questions that typically play out in my head something like this…
Out of all the things I really enjoy doing, how do I choose just one to build a career around? Whichever one I choose will most assuredly get most of my time and energy. And after investing so much into just one of my passions, will I still enjoy it or will it eventually just become “work?” Even if I feel content with the answers to those questions, can I make enough money doing this for me and my family to live comfortably?
While I’m not quite there yet, I feel closer than I ever have to finally figuring it all out. I have an idea but I still don’t know exactly what I want to be when I grow up and, I’m OK with that. I know I’m not alone. I, like countless others, will continue to work and put my best foot forward while longing for something more, something to satisfy the void in the pit of my stomach, something that undisputedly captures my soul and stakes claim to being the one.
What do you want to be when you grow up? If you’ve achieved it, how did you know? If you haven’t, how will you know?

Adjust Yourself!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:02:43 +0000

“”There has always been a saying in baseball that you can’t make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter.”
—Ted Williams
Baseball players adjust themselves. You may notice this if you take in a game this opening day weekend at the ballpark. Observe the players closely and watch as they step into the batter’s box. They constantly adjust themselves.

No, I am not referring to the kind of adjustments that disturb your sister. I’m talking about a host of mechanical adjustments, in their basic skill sets, whether they are on the field or at the plate.
A baseball hitter has over a hundred different tasks he can work on during any given pre game routine. From pitch selection, to bat grip, to placement of the feet, the twist of the hips, and the extension of the bat, there are a host of tasks that need constant attention when attempting to hit a tiny white ball, that’s moving quickly toward you, with a stick. And often, those skills necessary to accomplish one of the hardest tasks in sports, is often in need of adjustments. Hitting is a series of natural athletic talents, combined with hours and hours of preparation, training, and constant fine-tuning.
When coaching my youth baseball players, with various skill sets, our coaching staff will constantly ask players to “feel” what they are doing in either their, throwing, catching, hitting, or running mechanics. And rather than constantly overwhelm them with feedback on what they could be doing better, which can be overwhelming to any ball player, especially young ones, we often ask them to assess themselves.
“What did you feel with that swing?”
“I felt my shoulder dip on that swing,” they respond.
“What adjustment can you make?”
“I need to keep my back shoulder up, and drive through the ball,” they respond with a solution. They are now taking ownership in.
They’ve just made an adjustment!
Eventually, the really good players, start to feel what they are doing wrong as a result of committing the proper mechanics to muscle memory. On their own, they begin to understand what they could be doing better mechanically, and begin to make adjustments. They begin to coach themselves and often separate themselves from the players who are not making adjustments on their own.
At work, we can be given a project that has a task made up of a hundred different skills that we could improve on in any given day—operating a software, writing a proposal, making a sales pitch, or assessing a budget. The fact is, like baseball, the workplace is full of personal learning opportunities for us as individuals.
The more we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses on a given task or skill, the more we are able to diagnosis what adjustments we need to make on our own in order to accomplish a task at a higher level of excellence. In essence, we are learning to coach ourselves if we have the knowledge, and a clear picture of what a good job looks like on that given task. When we get to this level as individual contributors within an organization, we are ready to perform at an All Star level.
So go ahead, look at the tasks you are working on today, and ask yourself, what can I do better? Then go ahead and do it—adjust yourself! You’ll feel better, and you’re sister won’t think you’re weird.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action
The Ken Blanchard Companies

Seize the Project!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:56:16 +0000

“This is your moment. You’re meant to be here!” —Herb Books

Bartleman - Carpe Diem

Carpe diem is a Latin phrase first scribed in a poem by the great Roman poet, Horace, and has become a popular modern phrase (in some cases, a tattoo on a colleagues arm) in modern culture —Seize the Day. In Latin, Carpe literally mans to pick, pluck, or to crop. In the larger rural agrarian culture of the Romans, it was a phrase often used during the season when landowners would set out to gather their harvest—and thus earn their living. It’s a common misconception that Diem is a literal translation as “day.” The idea of a “day” in Latin refers to not only to a literal twenty-four hour period, but also can refer to a moment in time, or a specific season like the harvest.

This ancient phrase is something to keep in mind in today’s workplace. Even though our technology driven culture is a far cry from the pastoral culture Horace spoke to in his classic poem, there is a timeless relevance that is directly applicable to an environment that is driven through small seasons.
Because of the technological revolution of personal computers, the Internet, and mobile devices, today’s workplace has largely become a project based work environment. Many individual contributors and self leaders in today’s workplace don’t punch a time card, checking in at a certain time, watching the clock, and checking back out. Today’s 24/7 accesses to projects allows individuals to do their work, any time it is convenient for them to apply their skills and complete their tasks on a given project. (So, when can we do away with Ben Franklin’s annual day light savings glitch?)
A client recently called me requesting a fresh way to promote a new book release. They felt the need to move beyond a simple “talking head” video that dumps information about the book on the viewer, but rather create a story about why the book would be worth reading. She expressed her need and desire, a few ideas were conceived and planted by our team, a solution was chosen and cultivated through our team’s knowledge and skills, and a fresh new promotional video was harvested.
Most of the work we do today is through a host of projects, completed with interrelated skills, through a variety of technologies, over the course of a few days, several weeks or several months—a season. It is our glorious duty, nay, it is our privilege, to vigorously plant, pick, pluck, and harvest each project that comes into our sphere of influence.
It is our moment to embrace the needs of our internal and external clients and serve them with a passion that rivals and reflects the ancient civilizations that inspired poets to coin phrases that are as relevant today as they were when they were first scribed those words thousands of years ago. Today is our day to Seize the Project and produce a timeless legacy through the work we do—moment to moment, day to day, season to season.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

Back to Basics!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:29:02 +0000

First Sign of Spring

Forget what that silly groundhog in Pennsylvania has to say about the arrival of spring—it officially began this week! That’s right, pitchers and catchers reported for duty this week to their respective spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida. Major League Baseball is just around the corner, and that means the fresh hopes and dreams of a new season for many fans of America’s pastime.
But spring training is not just about the dawn of a new season, it is a return to the roots of the game where players, coaches, and management, not only set a vision for the year, but even more importantly, they get back to basics of the game. Whether it is a new player in a youth baseball league, a professional rookie, or an all-star veteran with decades of experience, spring training is an opportunity to get individuals and teams back to a core set of ideas and practices in an effort to make their organization great.
Baseball, like any art, is a host of fundamental skill sets developed through consistent practice and endless repetition—a foundation of drills that must be repeated over and over for it to become part of natural and unconscious skill set. Spring training is used as a time to get hearts, minds, and bodies into shape, through proper preparation.

Spring Training

Organizations would do well to look closely at baseball’s annual rite of passage from winter to spring. February is a great time for individuals and teams in the corporate world to get refocused on their personal and collective goals for the year. It’s also a great time to get back to basics, making sure they are executing the fundamentals of their responsibilities in the workplace, ensuring that they are aligned with the overall efforts of the organization.
Just this past week, The Ken Blanchard Companies celebrated what we call our Week of Excellence—an annual week to get together in departments and teams to briefly celebrate the accomplishments of the past year, but more importantly get focused on what we are trying to set out and accomplish for the coming year as an organization and as individuals. In years past, we would hold workshops that would orient newer employees to our core offerings and how those offerings fit our day-to-day operations.
It is also a great opportunity to hold workshops on emerging technologies and trends that may affect our business over the course of the next year, and how we might engage those trends and make them work to the benefit of our organization and clients. We are also often blessed to hear from our Founding Associates and remember our history that naturally reminds everyone what the purpose of our business is.

Common Focus

These annual celebrations are a great time to see friends and colleagues that we may have not seen in sometime. It’s a time to praise each other for a job well done in the previous year. But even more importantly, it helps us all get back to the basics of our work. It is our annual spring training!
Organizations and individuals around the world would do well to take a week each year to hold a “spring training” for their people to get their people refocused on why we do the work we do, and how to do it best. Excellence never comes easy, but it does start with a foundation of work ethic and fundamentals that we should never take for granted. Let us be properly prepared to answer that age-old spring call, “Play Ball!” Or is it, “Get to Work!”
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

A Servant Leader Emerges From Egypt

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:37:57 +0000

Wael Ghonim was relatively unknown to most up until a few weeks ago. When I first read about him, it was at the beginning of the protests in Egypt. At that time, he was simply a Google executive who was missing. No one from friends, family, or even Google knew where he was.
Today, he is the face of a public outcry for change. Released by the government that had detained him, a man who has never held a public office is now being called on by hundreds of thousands of people to lead Egypt into a new era of democracy.
But why?
Shouldn’t the public be looking to one of the other existing opposition parties that have political backgrounds to lead them? After all, Egypt certainly needs people with experience to help them through this chaotic transition.
The key difference is the emotion and caring Wael showed in a televised interview. It’s precisely because of this interview that the public protests were provided with new life and strengthened. Not only were people quoted as saying that they joined the protests due to Wael’s comments, but even members of the current government were quoted stating they quit their public posts to join the many citizens in Tahrir Square after seeing that interview.
When he was shown pictures of individuals who had perished since the protests started, Wael broke down in emotion. He actually cared for people who he had never met. He had this to say at the end of the interview before walking off the set:
“I want to tell every mother and every father who lost a child, I am sorry, but this is not our mistake. I swear to God, it’s not our mistake. It’s the mistake of every one of those in power who doesn’t want to let go of it.”
I’ve read quote after quote from the citizens of Egypt that said Wael is the only one who showed that he cared and apologized for those tragedies. No other political figure showed that same level of compassion.
The stark comparison here, whether you hold a position within government or as a manager in a business, is that the position of power is meant to help those underneath you. It does not exist to support self-interest.
A large group of people in Egypt believe, as do I, that Wael would be a leader of the people, putting the public’s interest ahead of his own.
Whether Wael realizes it or not, he has the makings of a servant leader.
View all part 3 of the emotional interview below. (Note that you may need to turn on closed captions, CC, on the video player to see the translation)

Leading from Within

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:17:20 +0000

A colleague of mine recently came to me distressed and anxious about a new role he was being asked to fulfill on a relatively new work team. The New Year brought on new goals, for himself and the young team. He was nervous; not about whether he could meet the demands of the new role—a position he has had high performance in for quite sometime within the organization—but rather he was discouraged that they did not ask him to manage the new work team.
“I never knew you wanted to be a manager, Jon” I expressed surprise in his disappointment.
“I don’t really,” he explained. “I like what I’m doing and I believe I do it pretty well, but you think I’d be asked to manage the team, given all of my experience in this role.”
“But you just said yourself that you don’t want to manage people. It would probably stifle your creativity if you had to be burdened with the details that come with management.”
Jon shook his head in discouragement, unable to pinpoint the source of his anxiety over the new dynamics of his team.
“What’s the real issue here?” I asked pointedly.
“The real issue?” he scoffed.
“Yeah, why are you so disappointed when you will still be doing what you’ve always done, perhaps even better with a new manager,” I tried to draw him out.
Then Jon poured out his emotions over the unsettled dynamics of the team and how they weren’t properly chartered and even potentially set up for failure. The new manager seemed nice enough, and was a good people person, but she didn’t know anything about the skill sets required by the individuals performing the daily duties of this work team.
“I’m the real leader of this team. I’m the one who has to meet with the client up front, get real clear on what they are asking for,” Jon offered a passionate plea. “And I’m the one that has to face the client when the rear their angry head when the job isn’t done exactly the way the want!” he added with exclamation.
Ahhhhh! There it is! A common misperception in workplaces all around the world. Managers aren’t always leaders, and leaders aren’t always managers. The business literature of the 80s and 90s, before the digital age dramatically changed the face of the workplace, often preached management and leadership as synonymous with one another. And to a degree, they still are. A manager needs to develop good leadership skills. Filling out monthly or annual reviews is one thing, getting down to the heart of the matter and drawing people’s potential and passion out of them is another.
On the other hand, there are organizations around the world that are full of great leaders as individual contributors and within teams—great managers of self—that know exactly what they are doing and how to make the team and the organization more efficient. These are individuals that don’t need to sit behind a title or be in a traditional position of power to make a significant contribution to the organization.
“Jon, that’s just it. You are the leader of this team. In fact, it seems that you have a team full of great Self Leaders. You don’t need a title to make yourself or your team more efficient. There is no secret to it.”
He shook his head in suspended agreement, until the light of reason brought a smile of revelation to his face.
“Leadership is an attitude, not a position,” he surmised like only a blossoming leader could.

Failure Brings Inspiration

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:56:56 +0000

It takes a lot in a video to inspire me, but in this case, I felt I needed to share this with our readers because of the impact it had on me personally. My take-away from this video is that it’s better to help others succeed, rather than ridiculing them for failure. It can be a heart-warming thing to witness.
Below is a clip of an 8 year-old girl singing the National Anthem at a hockey game. Things start off pretty normal, until partially through the Anthem, her microphone cuts out. I’ve seen this before with other sporting events, but it usually ends with the crowd laughing, booing, or a combination of both. Instead, the crowd picks up where the microphone cut out and continues to sing with the girl until the end.
To top it off, almost the entire crowd begins singing like a choir, without needing a nudge from a select few brave individuals to start singing first before inspiring others to do so.
This can serve as a reminder to all of us that we can help others around us accomplish their tasks if we see that they’re struggling, rather than letting them fail.

Quiet Desperation

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:34:19 +0000

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”—Henry David Thoreau
Upon graduating from college—more than a short time ago now—my roommate and I set out on an adventure across the United States. We wanted to celebrate the achievement of earning the sheepskin trophy we called a diploma, while we mourned the impending doom of embarking on a career in the workplace. It was a farewell tour to the good life of freedom and independence from “The Machine” of modern capitalism—or so we thought.

Walden

One of our first stops was Boston, Massachusetts, to visit a good friend attending Harvard Law School. While there, we made the short trip out to Walden Pond, just down the road in Concord. I personally wanted to see the place where Thoreau made his noble stand against society, isolating himself in a cabin and crafting one of the greatest literary rebellions against the status quo in modern history.
It wasn’t until recently, when I picked up a copy of Walden, that I was dumbfounded by the basic premise of his masterpiece: The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. It was a wake up call!
After a decade in the workplace, this phrase hit me harder than ever, and I thought to myself, “Have I become one of the masses living a life of quiet desperation? Where did a decade go so quickly? What have I achieved? Why have I not made the cover of Rolling Stone?” Furthermore, how does it come to a point in our careers, or in our lives, that we get to a place of quiet desperation? Where was that class in the university? Who majored in Mediocrity? Who went to get an MA in QD?
Nobody plans on settling for the status quo. Nobody enters the workforce and says, “I want to be average! I want to be mediocre! I want a dull and boring job!” Yet, the line between great and average is often very thin and can creep up on us if we are not diligent.
The truth is, we want to be great! We want excellence, meaning, and worthwhile achievements in our life and in our work. There is a voice inside of everyone that craves greatness—a call to live, lead, and love at a higher level.
Thoreau’s exposition was less about the judgment of such lives that have lost their way, but rather a call for individuals to reach beyond settling for the monotony of everyday life—those who have forgotten how to lead themselves. This American classic has encouraged me to continue to be diligent in reaching for my dreams, through the art of self-reliance and a passion to reach for higher levels. As Thoreau concluded, near the end of his book, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
Don’t settle for quiet desperation. Work well and lead the life of possibility you were meant to live.
http://youtu.be/yii9b1HE9lA
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action